Abstract
Plants frequently encounter diverse abiotic stresses, one of which is environmental thermal stress. To cope with these stresses, plants have developed a range of mechanisms, including altering the cell wall architecture, which is facilitated by the arabinogalactan proteins (AGP) and extensins (EXT). In order to characterise the localisation of the epitopes of the AGP and EXT, which are induced by the stress connected with a low (4 °C) or a high (40 °C) temperature, in the leaves of Brachypodium distachyon, we performed immunohistochemical analyses using the antibodies that bind to selected AGP (JIM8, JIM13, JIM16, LM2 and MAC207), pectin/AGP (LM6) as well as EXT (JIM11, JIM12 and JIM20). The analyses of the epitopes of the AGP indicated their presence in the phloem and in the inner bundle sheath (JIM8, JIM13, JIM16 and LM2). The JIM16 epitope was less abundant in the leaves from the low or high temperature compared to the control leaves. The LM2 epitope was more abundant in the leaves that had been subjected to the high temperatures. In the case of JIM13 and MAC207, no changes were observed at the different temperatures. The epitopes of the EXT were primarily observed in the mesophyll and xylem cells of the major vascular bundle (JIM11, JIM12 and JIM20) and no correlation was observed between the presence of the epitopes and the temperature stress. We also analysed changes in the level of transcript accumulation of some of the genes encoding EXT, EXT-like receptor kinases and AGP in the response to the temperature stress. In both cases, although we observed the upregulation of the genes encoding AGP in stressed plants, the changes were more pronounced at the high temperature. Similar changes were observed in the expression profiles of the EXT and EXT-like receptor kinase genes. Our findings may be relevant for genetic engineering of plants with increased resistance to the temperature stress.
Highlights
Plant growth and productivity are compromised by various abiotic stresses, among which are high and low temperature stress
We focused on the fasciclin-like AGP (FLA) that have been implicated in modulation of signalling upstream of cell wall polymer biosynthesis, remodelling, as well as in the stress response as one of the arabinogalactan proteins (AGP) sub-families [35,36,37]
We found an increase in the level of transcript accumulation of the FLA in response to temperature stress, which concurs with the immunohistochemistry observations that have been made for the LM2 antibody
Summary
Plant growth and productivity are compromised by various abiotic stresses, among which are high and low temperature stress. Even short periods of temperature stress may significantly decrease the yield, especially when it occurs during the crucial stages of plant development [1]. (Brachypodium), which is a member of the Pooideae subfamily, is a wild annual grass species that is widespread in the regions of the Mediterranean basin, Western Europe, the Middle East, south-west Asia, north-east Africa, North and South America and Australia. Due to its numerous favourable biological features such as a relatively small nuclear genome that ranges from 270 Mb to 350 Mb (depending on the methodology that is used), small stature, self-fertility, a life cycle of less than four months and undemanding growth requirements, B. distachyon constitutes an excellent model species [5]
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