Plant Physiol. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Plant Physiology Preview
Published on August 19, 2005; 10.1104/pp.105.064931

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (Plant Physiology Preview (PDF))
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
139/1/224    most recent
pp.105.064931v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (1)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Chiu, W.-L.
Right arrow Articles by Elhai, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Chiu, W.-L.
Right arrow Articles by Elhai, J.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Chiu, W.-L.
Right arrow Articles by Elhai, J.

Received April 30, 2005
Returned for revision June 30, 2005
Accepted July 11, 2005

Nitrogen Deprivation Stimulates Symbiotic Gland Development in Gunnera manicata

Wan-Ling Chiu *, Gerald A. Peters , Germain Levieille , Patrick C. Still , Sarah Cousins , Bruce Osborne , and Jeff Elhai

Department of Biology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, 23284
Department of Botany, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
Department of Biology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, 23284; Center for the Study of Biological Complexity, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, 23284

* Corresponding author; email: wchiu{at}vcu.edu.

Gunnera is the only genus of angiosperms known to host cyanobacteria and the only group of land plants that hosts cyanobacteria intracellularly. Motile filaments of cyanobacteria, known as hormogonia, colonize Gunnera plants through cells in the plant's specialized stem glands. It is commonly held that Gunnera plants always possess functional glands for symbiosis. We found, however, that stem gland development did not occur when Gunnera manicata plants were grown on nitrogen (N)-replete medium but, rather, was initiated at predetermined positions when plants were deprived of combined N. While N status was the main determinant for gland development, an exogenous carbon source (sucrose) accelerated the process. Furthermore, a high level of sucrose stimulated the formation of callus-like tissue in place of the gland under N-replete conditions. Treatment of plants with the auxin transport inhibitor 1-naphthylphthalamic acid prevented gland development on N-limited medium, most likely by preventing resource reallocation from leaves to the stem. Optimized conditions were found for in vitro establishment of the Nostoc-Gunnera symbiosis by inoculating mature glands with hormogonia from Nostoc punctiforme, a cyanobacterium strain for which the full genome sequence is available. In contrast to uninoculated plants, G. manicata plants colonized by N. punctiforme were able to continue their growth on N-limited medium. Understanding the nature of the Gunnera plant's unusual adaptation to an N-limited environment may shed light on the evolution of plant-cyanobacterium symbioses and may suggest a route to establish productive associations between N-fixing cyanobacteria and crop plants.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
O. Deusch, G. Landan, M. Roettger, N. Gruenheit, K. V. Kowallik, J. F. Allen, W. Martin, and T. Dagan
Genes of Cyanobacterial Origin in Plant Nuclear Genomes Point to a Heterocyst-Forming Plastid Ancestor
Mol. Biol. Evol., April 1, 2008; 25(4): 748 - 761.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
ASPB Publications PLANT PHYSIOLOGY® THE PLANT CELL
Copyright © 2005 by the American Society of Plant Biologists