Identification and characterization of an ABA‐activated MAP kinase cascade in Arabidopsis thaliana. (April 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Danquah, Agyemang; de Zélicourt, Axel; Boudsocq, Marie; Neubauer, Jorinde; Frei dit Frey, Nicolas; Leonhardt, Nathalie; Pateyron, Stephanie; Gwinner, Frederik; Tamby, Jean‐Philippe; Ortiz‐Masia, Dolores; Marcote, Maria J.; Hirt, Heribert; Colcombet, Jean
• Is Part Of: Plant journal. Volume 82:Number 2(2015:Apr.)
• Page Start: 232
• Page End: 244
• Publication Date: 2015-04
• Subjects: Plant molecular biology -- Periodicals; Plant cells and tissues -- Periodicals; Botany -- Periodicals; 580
• DOI: 10.1111/tpj.12808
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0960-7412

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="tpj12808-abs-0001"> <title>Summary</title> <p>Abscisic acid (ABA) is a major phytohormone involved in important stress‐related and developmental plant processes. Recent phosphoproteomic analyses revealed a large set of ABA‐triggered phosphoproteins as putative mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) targets, although the evidence for MAPKs involved in ABA signalling is still scarce. Here, we identified and reconstituted <italic>in vivo</italic> a complete ABA‐activated MAPK cascade, composed of the MAP3Ks MAP3K17/18, the MAP2K MKK3 and the four C group MAPKs MPK1/2/7/14. <italic>In planta</italic>, we show that ABA activation of MPK7 is blocked in <italic>mkk3‐1</italic> and <italic>map3k17mapk3k18</italic> plants. Coherently, both mutants exhibit hypersensitivity to ABA and altered expression of a set of ABA‐dependent genes. A genetic analysis further reveals that this MAPK cascade is activated by the PYR/PYL/RCAR‐SnRK2‐PP2C ABA core signalling module through protein synthesis of the MAP3Ks, unveiling an atypical mechanism for MAPK activation in eukaryotes. Our work provides evidence for a role of an ABA‐induced MAPK pathway in plant stress signalling.</p> </abstract>