The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Unravelling zinc homeostatic mechanisms in the crop plant barley

Unravelling zinc homeostatic mechanisms in the crop plant barley
Unravelling zinc homeostatic mechanisms in the crop plant barley
Zinc (Zn) is an essential micronutrient in plants but becomes toxic when present in excess, with nutritional extremes leading to agricultural yield losses. Homeostatic mechanisms are in place to control cellular Zn levels with transcription factors and membrane transport proteins playing vital roles. In Arabidopsis thaliana, two F-group bZIP transcription factors, bZIP19 and bZIP23, are proposed to sense and respond to Zn deficiency by regulating the expression of particular Zn membrane transporters, ZIPs (ZRT/IRT-like proteins). In this thesis, four unique bzip19 bzip23 knockout mutants with different combinations of T-DNA insertion sites were generated and shown to be hypersensitive to Zn-deficiency. To understand the role of F-group bZIPs in the economically important crop Hordeum vulgare (barley), HvbZIP1, 10, 56, 57, 58, and 61 were cloned and characterized to various extents. HvbZIP56, HvbZIP57, HvbZIP62 but not HvbZIP1 partially rescue the hypersensitive phenotype of the A. thaliana bzip19-4 bzip23-2 mutant. HvbZIP56 was localised to the cytoplasm and nucleus when expressed in A. thaliana and tobacco. Promoter analysis demonstrates that barley ZIP transporters that are up-regulated under Zn deficiency contain cis Zn-deficiency response elements (ZDREs), similarly to A. thaliana. Overall, these results indicate that the mechanisms operating in controlling Zn levels in barley are conserved.

Two transporters, AtHMA3 (a P1B-2-type ATPase) and AtMTP1 (a Metal tolerance protein) have been implicated in sequestering Zn in Arabidopsis vacuoles to alleviate Zn toxicity. In this study, only the mtp1 mutant and not the hma3 mutant showed hypersensitivity to high Zn levels. HvHMA3 (a barley P1B-2-ATPase) when expressed in mtp1 rescued this hypersensitivity indicating a role in Zn transport, although this could not be confirmed by expression in S. cerevisiae. This study represents a significant step forward in understanding the mechanisms controlling Zn responses in cereal crops, and will aid in developing strategies for crop improvement.
Bin Nazri, Ahmad
3f619b2a-7f30-44a0-b0a6-0c867b9afc37
Bin Nazri, Ahmad
3f619b2a-7f30-44a0-b0a6-0c867b9afc37
Williams, Lorraine
79ee1856-3732-492b-8ac5-239749c85d9e

Bin Nazri, Ahmad (2016) Unravelling zinc homeostatic mechanisms in the crop plant barley. University of Southampton, Centre for Biological Sciences, Doctoral Thesis, 309pp.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

Zinc (Zn) is an essential micronutrient in plants but becomes toxic when present in excess, with nutritional extremes leading to agricultural yield losses. Homeostatic mechanisms are in place to control cellular Zn levels with transcription factors and membrane transport proteins playing vital roles. In Arabidopsis thaliana, two F-group bZIP transcription factors, bZIP19 and bZIP23, are proposed to sense and respond to Zn deficiency by regulating the expression of particular Zn membrane transporters, ZIPs (ZRT/IRT-like proteins). In this thesis, four unique bzip19 bzip23 knockout mutants with different combinations of T-DNA insertion sites were generated and shown to be hypersensitive to Zn-deficiency. To understand the role of F-group bZIPs in the economically important crop Hordeum vulgare (barley), HvbZIP1, 10, 56, 57, 58, and 61 were cloned and characterized to various extents. HvbZIP56, HvbZIP57, HvbZIP62 but not HvbZIP1 partially rescue the hypersensitive phenotype of the A. thaliana bzip19-4 bzip23-2 mutant. HvbZIP56 was localised to the cytoplasm and nucleus when expressed in A. thaliana and tobacco. Promoter analysis demonstrates that barley ZIP transporters that are up-regulated under Zn deficiency contain cis Zn-deficiency response elements (ZDREs), similarly to A. thaliana. Overall, these results indicate that the mechanisms operating in controlling Zn levels in barley are conserved.

Two transporters, AtHMA3 (a P1B-2-type ATPase) and AtMTP1 (a Metal tolerance protein) have been implicated in sequestering Zn in Arabidopsis vacuoles to alleviate Zn toxicity. In this study, only the mtp1 mutant and not the hma3 mutant showed hypersensitivity to high Zn levels. HvHMA3 (a barley P1B-2-ATPase) when expressed in mtp1 rescued this hypersensitivity indicating a role in Zn transport, although this could not be confirmed by expression in S. cerevisiae. This study represents a significant step forward in understanding the mechanisms controlling Zn responses in cereal crops, and will aid in developing strategies for crop improvement.

Text
BinNazri2016_Final Thesis.pdf - Other
Available under License University of Southampton Thesis Licence.
Download (13MB)

More information

Published date: September 2016
Organisations: University of Southampton, Centre for Biological Sciences

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 403873
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/403873
PURE UUID: 222445b5-72c1-4a89-955a-77312d236951

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 15 Dec 2016 13:53
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 06:09

Export record

Contributors

Author: Ahmad Bin Nazri
Thesis advisor: Lorraine Williams

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×