Plant Physiol.
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Plant Physiology Preview
Published on October 10, 2008; 10.1104/pp.108.124099

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (Plant Physiology Preview (PDF))
Right arrow Supplemental Data
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
148/4/1925    most recent
pp.108.124099v1
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 (4)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Mouillon, J.-M.
Right arrow Articles by Harryson, P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Mouillon, J.-M.
Right arrow Articles by Harryson, P.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Mouillon, J.-M.
Right arrow Articles by Harryson, P.

Received July 18, 2008
Accepted October 1, 2008

Mimicking the Plant-Cell Interior under Water Stress by Macromolecular Crowding: Disordered Dehydrin Proteins Are Highly Resistant to Structural Collapse

Jean-Marie Mouillon , Sylvia K. Eriksson , and Pia Harryson *

Umea Plant Science Centre, Department of Plant Physiology, Umea University, S-901 87 UMEA, SWEDEN

* Corresponding author; email: pia.harryson{at}dbb.su.se.

The dehydrins are a class of drought-induced proteins in plants that lack a fixed three-dimensional structure. Their specific molecular action, as well as the reason for their disordered character, is as yet poorly understood. It has been speculated, however, that the dehydrins are tuned to acquire a biologically active structure only under the conditions at which they normally function, i.e. upon dehydration. To test this hypothesis, we here investigate the effect of reduced water content and macromolecular crowding on three dehydrins from Arabidopsis thaliana. As a simplistic model for mimicking cellular dehydration we used polyethylene glycol (PEG), glycerol, and sugars which plants naturally employ as compatible solutes, i.e. sucrose and glucose. Macromolecular crowding was induced by the large polysaccharides ficoll and dextran. The results show that the dehydrins are remarkably stable in their disordered state and are only modestly affected by the solvent alterations. A notable exception is the dehydrin Cor47 which shows a small, intrinsic increase in helical structure at high concentrations of osmolytes. We also examined the effect of phosphorylation but found no evidence that such post-translational modifications of the dehydrin sequences modulate their structural response to osmolytes and crowding agents. The results suggest that the dehydrins are highly specialised proteins that have evolved to maintain their disordered character under conditions where unfolded states of several globular proteins would tend to collapse.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Plant Physiol.Home page
S. Teotia and R. S. Lamb
The Paralogous Genes RADICAL-INDUCED CELL DEATH1 and SIMILAR TO RCD ONE1 Have Partially Redundant Functions during Arabidopsis Development
Plant Physiology, September 1, 2009; 151(1): 180 - 198.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Plant Physiol.Home page
M.-C. Koag, S. Wilkens, R. D. Fenton, J. Resnik, E. Vo, and T. J. Close
The K-Segment of Maize DHN1 Mediates Binding to Anionic Phospholipid Vesicles and Concomitant Structural Changes
Plant Physiology, July 1, 2009; 150(3): 1503 - 1514.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol PlantHome page
A. J. Charron and R. S. Quatrano
Between a Rock and a Dry Place: The Water-Stressed Moss
Mol Plant, May 1, 2009; 2(3): 478 - 486.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
ASPB Publications PLANT PHYSIOLOGY® THE PLANT CELL
Copyright © 2008 by the American Society of Plant Biologists