Evidence that SNF1-related kinase and hexokinase are involved in separate sugar-signalling pathways modulating post-translational redox activation of ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase in potato tubers (original) (raw)
Related papers
Plant Journal, 1998
This report describes the analysis of transgenic potato plants stably transformed with chimeric genes comprising either a patatin (tuber-specific) or a ST-LS1 (leaf-and stem-specific) gene promoter and a potato sucrose nonfermenting-1 (SNF1)-related protein kinase gene (PKIN1) sequence in the antisense orientation. Presence of the transgene was confirmed by Southern analysis. The transformants were screened using a peptide kinase activity assay for SNF1-related activity and/or Northern blot analysis, and two independent transgenic lines from each transformation, PAT 1.3, PAT 1.10, LS 1.4 and LS 1.11, were selected. Antisense PKIN1 transcripts were detectable in all four of the selected lines, and measurements made using the specific peptide phosphorylation assay showed that SNF1-related protein kinase activity had decreased in both PAT 1.3 and PAT 1.10 compared with controls. SNF1 regulates the expression of many genes encoding enzymes of carbohydrate metabolism in yeast. In order to investigate an analogous role for PKIN1, the activities of fructokinase, glucokinase, neutral and acid invertase and sucrose synthase in the tubers of PAT 1.3 and PAT 1.10 were compared with those in wild-type controls. Sucrose synthase activity was decreased to 36% of wild-type activity in tubers of PAT 1.10, and sucrose synthase transcript levels were decreased in tubers of both PAT 1.3 and PAT 1.10. Activities of the other enzymes were unaffected. Leaves of lines LS 1.4, LS 1.11 and controls were then excised and cultured on a medium containing 250 mM sucrose. This treatment induced sucrose synthase gene expression in the control leaves but not those of the transgenic lines. This finding is the first demonstration of 195 a role for SNF1-related protein kinases in the regulation of carbohydrate metabolism of higher plants.
Plant, Cell and Environment, 1999
The aim of this work was to define the metabolic factors which regulate the respiratory pathways in trangenic potato tubers. We previously found that respiration is enhanced in transgenic tubers which express a yeast invertase and a glucokinase from Zymomonas mobilis. In this study we investigated glycolysis in three further transgenic potato lines with profound changes in the mobilization of sucrose. We studied antisense ADPglucose pyrophosphorylase lines which are characterized by a reduction in starch accumulation and a significant build up of sucrose and related metabolic intermediates. We also report the generation of two novel double transgenic lines where the yeast invertase is expressed specifically in tubers of the ADPglucose pyrophosphorylase antisense line, targeted to either the cytosol or apopolast. We evaluated whether the localization of sucrose cleavage had an impact on the glycolytic induction, and assessed if invertase expression in the high-sucrose background had any further effects on glycolysis. We found that induction of the glycolytic enzymes only occurs when the invertase is targeted to the cytosol, and that the extent of this induction was comparable in the wild type and antisenseADPglucose pyrophosphorylase backgrounds. We conclude that the signal regulating glycolysis is directly linked to cytosolic sucrose hydrolysis.
Planta, 1999
Fluxes were investigated in growing tubers from wild-type potato (Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Desiree) and from transformants expressing a yeast invertase in the cytosol under the control of the tuber-speci®c patatin promoter either alone (EC 3.2.1.26; or in combination with a Zymomonas mobilis glucokinase (EC 2.7.1.2; GK3-38) by supplying radiolabelled [ 14 C]sucrose, [ 14 C]glucose or [ 14 C]fructose to tuber discs for a 90-min pulse and subsequent chase incubations of 4 and 12 h, and by supplying [ 14 C]fructose for 2 h and 4 h to intact tubers attached to the mother plant. Contrary to the expectation that this novel route for sucrose degradation would promote starch synthesis, the starch content decreased in the transgenic lines. Labelling kinetics did not reveal whether this was due to changes in the¯uxes into or out of starch. However, they demonstrated that glycolysis is enhanced in the transgenic lines in comparison to the wild type. There was also a signi®cant stimulation of sucrose synthesis, leading to a rapid cycle of sucrose degradation and resynthesis. The labelling pattern indicated that sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS; EC 2.4.1.14) was responsible for the enhanced recycling of label into sucrose. In agreement, there was a 4-fold and 6-fold increase in the activation status of SPS in U-IN2-30 and GK3-38, respectively, and experiments with protein phosphatase inhibitors indicated that this activation involves enhanced dephosphorylation of SPS. It is proposed that this activation of SPS is promoted by the elevated glucose 6-phosphate levels in the transgenic tubers. These results indicate the pitfalls of metabolic engineer-ing without a full appreciation of the metabolic system and regulatory circuits present in the tissue under investigation.
PLANT PHYSIOLOGY, 2003
Plants possess two alternative biochemical pathways for sucrose (Suc) degradation. One involves hydrolysis by invertase followed by phosphorylation via hexokinase and fructokinase, and the other route-which is unique to plants-involves a UDP-dependent cleavage of Suc that is catalyzed by Suc synthase (SuSy). In the present work, we tested directly whether a bypass of the endogenous SuSy route by ectopic overexpression of invertase or Suc phosphorylase affects internal oxygen levels in growing tubers and whether this is responsible for their decreased starch content. (a) Oxygen tensions were lower within transgenic tubers than in wild-type tubers. Oxygen tensions decreased within the first 10 mm of tuber tissue, and this gradient was steeper in transgenic tubers. (b) Invertase-overexpressing tubers had higher activities of glyceraldehyde-3phosphate dehydrogenase, lactate dehydrogenase, and alcohol dehydrogenase, and (c) higher levels of lactate. (d) Expression of a low-oxygen-sensitive Adh1--glucuronidase reporter gene construct was more strongly induced in the invertaseoverexpressing background compared with wild-type background. (e) Intact transgenic tubers had lower ATP to ADP ratios than the wild type. ATP to ADP ratio was restored to wild type, when discs of transgenic tubers were incubated at 21% (v/v) oxygen. (f) Starch decreased from the periphery to the center of the tuber. This decrease was much steeper in the transgenic lines, leading to lower starch content especially near the center of the tuber. (g) Metabolic fluxes (based on redistribution of 14 C-glucose) and ATP to ADP ratios were analyzed in more detail, comparing discs incubated at various external oxygen tensions (0%, 1%, 4%, 8%, 12%, and 21% [v/v]) with intact tubers. Discs of Suc phosphorylase-expressing lines had similar ATP to ADP ratios and made starch as fast as wild type in high oxygen but had lower ATP to ADP ratios and lower rates of starch synthesis than wild type at low-oxygen tensions typical to those found inside an intact tuber. (h) In discs of wild-type tubers, subambient oxygen concentrations led to a selective increase in the mRNA levels of specific SuSy genes, whereas the mRNA levels of genes encoding vacuolar and apoplastic invertases decreased. (i) These results imply that repression of invertase and mobilization of Suc via the energetically less costly route provided by SuSy is important in growing tubers because it conserves oxygen and allows higher internal oxygen tensions to be maintained than would otherwise be possible. .
Plant, Cell and Environment, 2001
Sugars are not only metabolic substrates: they also act as signals that regulate the metabolism of plants. Previously, we found that glycolysis is induced in transgenic tubers expressing a yeast invertase in the cytosol but not in those expressing invertase in the apoplast. This suggests that either the low level of sucrose, the increased formation of cytosolic glucose or the increased levels of metabolites downstream of the sucrose cleavage is responsible for the induction of glycolysis in storage organs. In order to discriminate between these possibilities, we cloned and expressed a bacterial sucrose phosphorylase gene from Pseudomonas saccharophila in potato tubers. Due to the phosphorolytic cleavage of sucrose, formation of glucose was circumvented, thus allowing assessment of the importance of cytosolic glucose -and, by implication, flux through hexokinase -in glycolytic induction. Expression of sucrose phosphorylase led to: (i) a decrease in sucrose content, but no decrease in glucose or fructose; (ii) a decrease in both starch accumulation and tuber yield; (iii) increased levels of glycolytic metabolites; (iv) an induction of the activities of key enzymes of glycolysis; and (v) increased respiratory activity. We conclude that the induction of glycolysis in heterotrophic tissues such as potato tubers occurs via a glucose-independent mechanism.
PLANT PHYSIOLOGY, 1999
Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) plants transformed with sense and antisense constructs of a cDNA encoding the potato hexokinase 1 (StHK1) exhibited altered enzyme activities and expression of StHK1 mRNA. Measurements of the maximum catalytic activity of hexokinase revealed a 22-fold variation in leaves (from 22% of the wild-type activity in antisense transformants to 485% activity in sense transformants) and a 7-fold variation in developing tubers (from 32% of the wild-type activity in antisense transformants to 222% activity in sense transformants). Despite the wide range of hexokinase activities, no change was found in the fresh weight yield, starch, sugar, or metabolite levels of transgenic tubers. However, there was a 3-fold increase in the starch content of leaves from the antisense transformants after the dark period. Starch accumulation at the end of the night period was correlated with a 2-fold increase of glucose and a decrease of sucrose content. These results provide strong support for the hypothesis that glucose is a primary product of transitory starch degradation and is the sugar that is exported to the cytosol at night to support sucrose biosynthesis.
Plant, Cell and Environment, 2002
As reported in a previous paper ( Plant, Cell and Environment 24, 357-365, 2001), introduction of sucrose phosphorylase into the cytosol of potato results in increased respiration, an inhibition of starch accumulation and decreased tuber yield. Herein a more detailed investigation into the effect of sucrose phosphorylase expression on tuber metabolism, in order to understand why storage and growth are impaired is described. (1) Although the activity of the introduced sucrose phosphorylase was low and accounted for less than 10% of that of sucrose synthase its expression led to a decrease in the activities of enzymes of starch synthesis relative to enzymes of glycolysis and relative to total amylolytic activity. (2) Incubation of tuber discs in [ 14 C]glucose revealed that the transformants display a two-fold increase of the unidirectional rate of sucrose breakdown. However this was largely compensated by a large stimulation of sucrose re-synthesis and therefore the net rate of sucrose breakdown was not greatly affected. Despite this fact major shifts in tuber metabolism, including depletion of sucrose to very low levels, higher rates of glycolysis, and larger pools of amino acids were observed in these lines. (3) Expression of sucrose phosphorylase led to a decrease of the cellular ATP/ADP ratio and energy charge in intact growing tubers. It was estimated that at least 30% of the ATP formed during respiration is consumed as a result of the large acceleration of the cycle of sucrose breakdown and re-synthesis in the transformants. Although the absolute rate of starch synthesis in short-term labelling experiments with discs rose, starch synthesis fell relative to other fluxes including respiration, and the overall starch content of the tubers was lower than in wild-type tubers. (4) External supply of amino acids to replace sucrose as an osmoticum led to a feed-back inhibition of glycolysis, but did not restore allocation to starch. (5) However, an external supply of the non-metabolizable sucrose analogue palatinose -but not sucrose itself -stimulated flux to starch in the transformants. (6) The results indicate that the impaired performance of sucrose phosphorylaseexpressing tubers is attributable to decreased levels of sucrose and increased energy consumption during sucrose futile cycling, and imply that sucrose degradation via sucrose synthase is important to maintain a relatively large sucrose pool and to minimize the ATP consumption required for normal metabolic function in the wild type.
Planta, 1994
i) Sucrose-phosphate synthase (SPS) was purified 40-fold from stored potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) tubers to a final specific activity of 33-70 nkat.(mg protein) -~ via batch elution from diethylaminoethyl (DEAE)-sephacel, polyethylene glycol (PEG) precipitation and Mono Q anion-exchange chromatography. (ii) Immunoblotting revealed a major and a minor band with molecular weights of 124.8 kDa and 133.5 kDa, respectively. Both bands were also present in extracts prepared in boiling SDS to exclude proteolysis. No smaller polypeptides were seen, except when the preparations were incubated before application on a polyacrylamide gel. (iii) The enzyme preparation was activated by glucose-6-phosphate and inhibited by inorganic phosphate. Both effectors had a large effect on the K m (fructose-6phosphate) and the K m (uridine-5-diphosphoglucose) with phosphate acting antagonistically to glucose-6phosphate. (iv) Preincubation of potato slices with low concentrations of okadaic acid or microcystin resulted in a three-to fourfold decrease in the activity of SPS when the tissue was subsequently extracted and assayed. The decrease was especially marked when the assay contained low concentrations of substrates and glucose-6-phosphate, and inorganic phosphate was included. Preincubation with mannose or in high osmoticum resulted in an increase of SPS activity. (v) Analogous changes were observed in germinating Ricinus communis L. seedlings. After preincubation of the cotyledons in glucose, high SPS activity could be measured, whereas okadaic acid, omission of glucose, or addition of phosphate or sucrose led to a large decrease of SPS activity in the "selective" assay. (vi) It is argued that SPS from non-photosynthetic tissues * Present address as 2 Abbreviations: Fru6P=fructose-6-phosphate; Glc6P=glucose-6phosphate; Pi --inorganic phosphate; PGI = phosphoglucose isomerase; PP2A = phosphoprotein phosphatase 2A; PEG = polyethyleneglycol; SPS =sucrose-phosphate synthase; UDPGIc= uridine-5-diphosphoglucose Correspondence to: R. Reimholz: FAX : 49 is regulated by metabolites and by protein phosphorylation in an analogous manner to the leaf enzyme.
Journal of Experimental Botany, 2008
Adenine nucleotides are of general importance for many aspects of cell function, but their role in the regulation of biosynthetic processes is still unclear. It was previously reported that decreased expression of plastidial adenylate kinase, catalysing the interconversion of ATP and AMP to ADP, leads to increased adenylate pools and starch content in transgenic potato tubers. However, the underlying mechanisms were not elucidated. Here, it is shown that decreased expression of plastidial adenylate kinase in growing tubers leads to increased rates of respiratory oxygen consumption and increased carbon fluxes into starch. Increased rates of starch synthesis were accompanied by post-translational redox-activation of ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (AGPase), catalysing the key regulatory step of starch synthesis in the plastid, while there were no substantial changes in metabolic intermediates or sugar levels. A similar increase in posttranslational redox-activation of AGPase was found after supplying adenine to wild-type potato tuber discs to increase adenine nucleotide levels. Results provide first evidence for a link between redox-activation of AGPase and adenine nucleotide levels in plants.