Plant Physiology Preview
Published on February 16, 2007; 10.1104/pp.106.093989
OPEN ACCESS ARTICLE
Received November 30, 2006
Accepted February 3, 2007
Functional Genomic Analysis Supports Conservation of Function Among CslA Gene Family Members and Suggests Diverse Roles of Mannans in Plants
Aaron H. Liepman *, C. Joseph Nairn , William G.T. Willats , Iben Sørensen , Alison W. Roberts , and Kenneth Keegstra
Biology Department, Eastern Michigan University, 316 Mark Jefferson, Ypsilanti, Michigan, 48197; DOE Plant Research Laboratory, Department of Plant Biology, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, 48824; Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources Room 3-211, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, 30602; Department of Plant Physiology, University of Copenhagen, DK-1353, Copenhagen, Denmark; Department of Biological Sciences, 100 Flagg Road, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881-0816
* Corresponding author; email: aliepman{at}emich.edu.
Mannan polysaccharides are widespread among plants, where they serve as structural elements in cell walls, as carbohydrate reserves, and potentially perform other important functions. Previous work has demonstrated that members of the CslA family of glycosyltransferases from Arabidopsis, Cyamopsis tetragonolobus, and Populus trichocarpa catalyze  -1,4-mannan and glucomannan synthase reactions in vitro. Mannan polysaccharides and homologs of CslA genes appear to be present in all lineages of land plants analyzed to date. In many plants, the CslA genes are members of extended multi-gene families, however it is not known whether all CslA proteins are glucomannan synthases. CslA proteins from diverse land plant species, including representatives of the mono- and dicotyledonous angiosperms, gymnosperms, and bryophytes, were produced in insect cells and each CslA protein catalyzed mannan and glucomannan synthase reactions in vitro. Microarray mining and quantitative real-time RT-PCR analysis demonstrated that transcripts of Arabidopsis and Pinus taeda CslA genes display tissue-specific expression patterns in vegetative and floral tissues. Glycan microarray analysis of Arabidopsis indicated that mannans are present throughout the plant, and are especially abundant in flowers, siliques, and stems. Mannans are also present in chloronemal and caulonemal filaments of Physcomitrella patens, where they are prevalent at cell junctions and in buds. Taken together, these results demonstrate that members of the CslA gene family from diverse plant species encode glucomannan synthases, and support the hypothesis that mannans function in metabolic networks devoted to other cellular processes in addition to cell wall structure and carbohydrate storage.
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