Analysis of the role of the pyruvate decarboxylase gene family in Arabidopsis thaliana under low‐oxygen conditions. (10th April 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mithran, M.; Paparelli, E.; Novi, G.; Perata, P.; Loreti, E.; Whelan, J.
• Is Part Of: Plant biology. Volume 16:Number 1(2014:Jan.)
• Page Start: 28
• Page End: 34
• Publication Date: 2013-04-10
• Subjects: Botany -- Periodicals; Plants -- genetics -- Periodicals; Plants -- growth & development -- Periodicals; Plant Proteins -- Periodicals; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant -- Periodicals; Botanique -- Périodiques; 580
• DOI: 10.1111/plb.12005
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1435-8603

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" xml:lang="en" id="plb12005-abs-0001"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>Plants under low‐oxygen conditions adapt their metabolism by inducing the fermentative pathway, with ethanol as the predominant end product. Activities of pyruvate decarboxylase (PDC) and alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) are required for this pathway. While a single gene encodes ADH in <italic>Arabidopsis</italic>, a family of four genes codes PDC. The availability of microarray data sets enabled the relative importance of the four <italic>PDC</italic> genes under low oxygen to be assessed, and revealed that, contrary to previous published evidence, not only <italic>PDC1</italic> but also <italic>PDC2</italic> plays a role under hypoxic conditions. We observed a high level of expression, both at transcript and protein levels of PDCs, even under aerobic conditions when ADH is almost absent. This suggests that PDC has a role under aerobic conditions, which is not coupled to fermentative metabolism. The expression of both <italic>PDC1</italic> and <italic>PDC2</italic> is strongly up‐regulated under low oxygen. <italic>PDC1</italic> is predominantly present in roots, while <italic>PDC2</italic> appears to be leaf‐specific. We showed that mutations in both <italic>PDC1</italic> and <italic>PDC2</italic> result in lower tolerance to submergence.</p> </abstract>