Biology subjects

Very, A.-A.

Publications and source records attributed to Very, A.-A..

5 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Do stomatal movements have a limited dynamic range?

Stomatal movements are driven through the uptake and release of potassium (K+) salts by guard cells, which surround a central pore. The extrusion of K+ from guard cells occurs via GORK K+-efflux channels, but potentially the AtKUP2, 6 and 8 encoded K+- transporters also play role. To test the roles of AtKUP and GORK proteins, gas-exchange experiments were conducted with mature Arabidopsis leaves. These experiments revealed that loss of KUP2, 6 and 8 lowered the stomatal conductance, while it increases in the GORK loss-of function mutant. Despite the difference in stomatal conductance, the changes in transpiration induced by light and ABA had the same amplitude in wild type and mutant lines. Our data suggest that stomata have a limited dynamic range that is not affected by mutations in KUP2, 6 and 8, or GORK. We propose that these rapid stomatal movements depend on uptake and release of K+, inorganic and small organic anions. Consequently, changes in stomatal opening beyond the dynamic range will depend on osmolytes that cannot be rapidly released, such as larger organic anions and amino acids.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2022

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Rhizophagus irregularis expresses an outwardly Shaker-like channel involved in potassium nutrition of rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Potassium (K+) plays crucial roles in many physiological, molecular and cellular processes in plants. Direct uptake of this nutrient by root cells has been extensively investigated, however, indirect uptake of K+ mediated by the interactions of the roots with fungi in the frame of a mutualistic symbiosis, also called mycorrhizal nutrient uptake pathway, is much less known. We identified an ion channel in the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus Rhizophagus irregularis. This channel exhibits the canonical features of Shaker-like channel shared in other living kingdoms and is named RiSKC3. Transcriptionally expressed in hyphae and in arbuscules of colonized rice roots, RiSKC3 has been shown to be located in the plasma membrane. Voltage-clamp functional characterization in Xenopus oocytes revealed that RiSKC3 is endowed with outwardly-rectifying voltage-gated activity with a high selectivity for potassium over sodium ions. RiSKC3 may have a role in the AM K+ pathway for rice nutrition in normal and salt stress conditions. The current working model proposes that K+ ions taken up by peripheral hyphae of R. irregularis are secreted towards the host root into periarbuscular space by RiSKC3. Significance StatementArbuscular mycorhizal fungus Rhizophagus irregularis expresses a Shaker-like channel, located in the plasma membrane, endowed with a strictly outwardly-rectifying voltage-gated activity with a high selectivity for potassium over sodium ions. The current working model proposes that K+ ions taken up by peripheral hyphae of R. irregularis are secreted towards the host root into periarbuscular space by this Shaker-like channel.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2021

The outward Shaker channel OsK5.2 is beneficial to the plant salt tolerance through its role in K+ translocation and its control of leaf transpiration

High soil salinity constitutes a major environmental constraint to crop production worldwide, and the identification of genetic determinants of plant salt tolerance is awaited by breeders. While the leaf K+ to Na+ homeostasis is considered as key parameter of plant salt tolerance, the underlying mechanisms are not fully identified. Especially, the contribution of K+ channels to this homeostasis has been scarcely examined. Here, we show, using a reverse genetics approach, that the outwardly-rectifying K+ channel OsK5.2, involved in K+ translocation to the shoot and K+ release by guard cells for stomatal closure, is a strong determinant of rice salt tolerance. Upon saline treatment, OsK5.2 function in xylem sap K+ load was maintained, and even transiently increased, in roots. OsK5.2 selectively handled K+ in roots and was not involved in xylem sap Na+ load. In shoots, OsK5.2 expression was up-regulated from the onset of the saline treatment, enabling fast reduction of stomatal aperture, decreased transpirational water flow and therefore decreased trans-plant Na+ flux and reduced leaf Na+ accumulation. Thus, the OsK5.2 functions allowed shoot K+ nutrition while minimizing arrival of Na+, and appeared highly beneficial to the leaf K+ to Na+ homeostasis, the avoidance of salt toxicity and plant growth maintaining.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2019

The Medicago truncatula HKT family: Ion transport properties and regulation of expression upon abiotic stresses and symbiosis

Soil salinity is one of the most important abiotic stresses affecting plant growth. In legumes, symbiotic nitrogen fixation in nodules is affected by salt stress, and salinity tolerance is variable among species. Genes from the High affinity K+ Transporter (HKT) family are known to play crucial roles in salt stress tolerance in different plant species. In legumes these transporters are still very poorly characterized.. Here we study the HKT transporter family from the model legume Medicago trunacatula, which is moderately tolerant to salinity. The genome of this species comprises five HKT genes, hereafter named MtHKT1;1 to MtHKT1;5. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the MtHKT polypeptides belong to HKT subfamily 1. Three members (MtHKT1;2, MtHKT1;4 and MtHKT1;5) of the Medicago truncatula family were cloned and expressed in Xenopus oocytes. Their electrophysiological properties revealed a permeability 10 times higher for Na+ than for K+ and varying rectification properties. Expression analyses of the three MtHKT genes under different biotic and abiotic conditions suggested that MtHKT1;5 is the main transporter from this family in the root, the three genes sharing a decrease of expression in drought and salt stress conditions in non inoculated plants as well as plants inoculated with rhizobia. In the shoot, the three MtHKT would be present at similar levels independently on the applied stresses. Based on biomass and ion content analysis, the nodule appeared as the most sensitive organ to the applied salt and drought stresses. The level of expression of the three MtHKT genes was strongly decreased by both stresses in the nodule.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2019

Medicago truncatula possesses a single Shaker outward K+ channel: functional characterization and roles in planta

The model legume Medicago truncatula possesses a single outward Shaker K+ channel, while Arabidopsis thaliana possesses two channels of this type, named SKOR and GORK, the former having been shown to play a major role in K+ secretion into the xylem sap in the root vasculature and the latter to mediate the efflux of K+ across the guard cell membrane upon stomatal closure. Here we show that the expression pattern of the single M. truncatula outward Shaker channel, which has been named MtGORK, includes the root vasculature, guard cells and root hairs. As shown by patch-clamp experiments on root hair protoplasts, besides the Shaker-type slowly-activating outwardly-rectifying K+ conductance encoded by MtGORK, a second K+-permeable conductance, displaying fast activation and weak rectification, can be expressed by M. truncatula. A KO mutation resulting in absence of MtGORK activity is shown to weakly reduce K+ translocation to shoots, and only in plants engaged in rhizobial symbiosis, but to strongly affect the control of stomatal aperture and transpitational water loss. In legumes, the early electrical signaling pathway triggered by Nod Factor perception is known to comprise a short transient depolarization of the root hair plasma membrane. In absence of MtGORK functional expression, while the rate of the membrane repolarization is shown to be decreased by about 3 times, this defect is without any consequence on infection thread development and nodule production, indicating that the plant capacity to engage rhizobial symbiosis does not require integrity of the early electrical signaling events.

plant biology↗