Biology subjects

Klaus, A.

Publications and source records attributed to Klaus, A..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2022

High robustness of cytosolic glutathione redox potential under combined salt and osmotic stress in barley as revealed by the biosensor Grx1-roGFP2

O_LIBarley is a staple crop of major global importance and relatively resilient to a wide range of stress factors in the field. Transgenic reporter lines to investigate physiological parameters during stress treatments remain scarce. C_LIO_LIWe generated and characterized stable homozygous barley lines (cv. Golden Promise Fast) expressing the genetically-encoded biosensor Grx1-roGFP2, which indicates the redox potential of the major antioxidant glutathione in the cytosol. C_LIO_LIOur results demonstrate functionality of the sensor in living barley plants. We determined the glutathione redox potential (EGSH) of the cytosol to be in the range of -308 to -320 mV. EGSH was robust against a combined NaCl (150 mM) and water deficit treatment (-0.8 MPa) that caused growth retardation and showed only a minor oxidation after 96 h of treatment. C_LIO_LIWe conclude that the generated reporter lines are a novel resource to study stress resilience in barley. C_LI One sentence summaryGeneration and characterization of barley plants stably expressing Grx1-roGFP2 reveal high robustness of cytosolic glutathione redox potential (EGSH) under combined salt and osmotic stress.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2022

ENHANCED GRAVITROPISM 2 coordinates molecular adaptations to gravistimulation in the elongation zone of barley roots

O_LIRoot gravitropism includes gravity perception in the root cap, signal transduction between root cap and elongation zone, and curvature response in the elongation zone. The barley (Hordeum vulgare) mutant enhanced gravitropism 2 (egt2) displays a hypergravitropic root phenotype. C_LIO_LIWe compared the transcriptomic reprogramming of the root cap, the meristem and the elongation zone of wild type and egt2 seminal roots upon gravistimulation in a time-course experiment and identified direct interaction partners of EGT2 by yeast-two-hybrid screening and bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) validation. C_LIO_LIWe demonstrated that the elongation zone is subjected to most transcriptomic changes after gravistimulation. Here, 35% of graviregulated genes are also transcriptionally controlled by EGT2, suggesting a central role of this gene in controlling the molecular networks associated with gravitropic bending. Gene co-expression analyses suggested a role of EGT2 in cell wall and reactive oxygen species (ROS)-related processes, in which direct interaction partners of EGT2 regulated by EGT2 and gravity might be involved. C_LIO_LITaken together, this study demonstrated the central role of EGT2 and its interaction partners in the networks controlling root zone-specific transcriptomic reprogramming of barley roots upon gravistimulation. These findings can contribute to the development of novel root idiotypes leading to improved crop performance. C_LI

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2022

Dynamic refinement of behavioral structure mediates dopamine-dependent credit assignment

Animals exhibit a diverse behavioral repertoire when exploring new environments and can learn which actions or action sequences produce positive outcomes. Dopamine release upon encountering reward is critical for reinforcing reward-producing actions1-3. However, it has been challenging to understand how credit is assigned to the exact action that produced dopamine release during continuous behavior. We investigated this problem with a novel self-stimulation paradigm in which specific spontaneous movements triggered optogenetic stimulation of dopaminergic neurons. Dopamine self-stimulation rapidly and dynamically changes the structure of the entire behavioral repertoire. Initial stimulations reinforced not only the stimulation-producing target action, but also actions similar to target and actions that occurred a few seconds before stimulation. Repeated pairings led to gradual refinement of the behavioral repertoire to home in on the target. Reinforcement of action sequences revealed further temporal dependencies of refinement. Action pairs spontaneously separated by long time intervals promoted a stepwise credit assignment, with early refinement of actions most proximal to stimulation and subsequent refinement of more distal actions. Thus, a retrospective reinforcement mechanism promotes not only reinforcement, but gradual refinement of the entire behavioral repertoire to assign credit to specific actions and action sequences that lead to dopamine release.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Generation of a new Tbx6-inducible reporter mouse line to trace presomitic mesoderm derivatives throughout development and in adults

The presomitic mesoderm (PSM) is initially an unsegmented structure localized on each side of the neural tube of the developing embryo, which progressively segments to form the somites. The somites will segregate and partition to generate the dorsal dermomyotome and the ventral sclerotome. Endothelial and myogenic cells of both the trunk and limbs are derived from the somites. There is a lack of efficient reporter mouse models to label and trace the PSM derivatives, despite their crucial contribution to many developmental processes. In this study, we generated a tamoxifen inducible transgenic Tbx6 mouse line, Tg(Tbx6_Cre/ERT2)/ROSA-eYFP, to tag and follow PSM-derivatives from early embryonic stages until adulthood. After induction, endothelial and myogenic cells can be easily identified within the trunk and limbs with proper expression patterns. Since our Tg(Tbx6_Cre/ERT2)/ROSA-eYFP model allows to permanently label the PSM-derived cells, their progeny can be studied at long-term, opening the possibility to perform lineage tracing of stem cells upon aging.

developmental biology↗