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Arabidopsis sulfurtransferases: investigation of their function during senescence and in cyanide detoxification

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Abstract

Sulfurtransferases (STs) and β-cyano-l-alanine synthase (CAS) are suggested to be involved in cyanide detoxification. Therefore, the accumulation of ST1 and CAS RNAs, and the ST and CAS protein levels and enzyme activities were determined in Arabidopsis thaliana Heynh. plants grown under different conditions. Senescence-associated processes were successfully induced by natural aging, by jasmonate methyl ester and by darkness in whole plants and detached leaves, as demonstrated by the expression of the senescence marker genes SAG12 and SAG13. However, the changes in RNA accumulation and protein levels of ST and CAS did not correlate with the expression of these senescence marker genes; the specific ST and CAS activities either decreased (ST) or increased (CAS). In another experiment, Arabidopsis plants were sprayed with cyanide to investigate the role of ST and CAS in cyanide detoxification. The expression of ST and CAS at the RNA and protein levels, and also the enzyme activities, remained equal in cyanide-treated and control plants. Incubation with 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid, the precursor of ethylene, increased while fumigation with ethylene decreased expression and activity of ST and CAS. In summary, cyanide does not induce the expression or enhance the activity of ST and CAS in Arabidopsis. For both proteins the evidence for a role in cyanide detoxification or induced senescence is low.

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Abbreviations

ACC:

1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid

CAS:

β-cyano-l-alanine synthase

MeJA:

jasmonate methyl ester

3-MP:

3-mercaptopyruvate

MST:

3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase

SAG:

senescence-associated gene

ST:

sulfurtransferase

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Acknowledgements

We thank Pamela von Trzebiatowski and Julia Volker for their excellent technical assistance, Dr. T. Winkelmann (Institute of Floriculture, Hannover, Germany) for assistance with the ethylene fumigation experiment, and the gardeners for growing the plants. We acknowledge the work of the undergraduate student Till Berger (Fribourg, Switzerland) who analyzed the cyanide contents during a stay in our laboratory. We are grateful to Prof. R. Amasino (Department of Biochemistry, Madison, USA) for providing the SAG12 and SAG13 cDNA clones, and Prof. K. Saito (Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chiba, Japan) for sending the CAS cDNA clone. We appreciate the suggestions of two anonymous reviewers who helped to improve the manuscript. The work was financially supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (PA 764/1-1/2, SCHM 307/15-1) and the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie.

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  1. Institute for Botany, University of Hannover, Herrenhäuserstr. 2, 30419, Hannover, Germany

    Tanja Meyer, Meike Burow, Michael Bauer & Jutta Papenbrock

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  1. Tanja Meyer
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  2. Meike Burow
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  4. Jutta Papenbrock
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Correspondence to Jutta Papenbrock.

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Meyer, T., Burow, M., Bauer, M. et al. Arabidopsis sulfurtransferases: investigation of their function during senescence and in cyanide detoxification. Planta 217, 1–10 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-002-0964-5

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