@phdthesis{vonRueden2022,
  author    = {von R{\"u}den, Martin Frederik},
  title     = {The Venus flytrap - Role of oxylipins in trap performance of Dionaea muscipula},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-27385},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-273854},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {A part of the plant kingdom consists of a variety of carnivorous plants. Some trap their prey using sticky leaves, others have pitfall traps where prey cannot escape once it has fallen inside. A rare trap type is the snap-trap: it appears only twice in the plant kingdom, in the genera Aldrovanda and Dionaea. Even Charles Darwin himself described Dionaea muscipula, the Venus flytrap, with the following words "This plant, commonly called Venus' fly-trap, from the rapidity and force of its movements, is one of the most wonderful in the world". For a long time now, the mechanisms of Dionaea's prey recognition, capture and utilization are of interest for scientists and have been studied intensively. Dionaea presents itself with traps wide-open, ready to catch insects upon contact. For this, the insect has to touch the trigger hairs of the opened trap twice within about 20-30 seconds. Once the prey is trapped, the trap lobes close tight, forming a hermetically sealed "green stomach". Until lately, there was only limited knowledge about the molecular and hormonal mechanisms which lead to prey capture and excretion of digestive fluids. It is known that the digestion process is very water-consuming; therefore, the interplay of digestion-inducing and digestion inhibiting substances was to be analyzed in this work, to elucidate the fine-tuning of the digestive pathway. Special attention was given to the impact of phytohormones on mRNA transcript levels of digestion-related proteins after various stimuli as well as their effect on Dionaea's physiological responses. Jasmonic acid (JA) and its isoleucine-conjugated form, JA-Ile, are an important signal in the jasmonate pathway. In the majority of non-carnivorous plants, jasmonates are critical for the defense against herbivory and pathogens. In Dionaea, this defense mechanism has been restructured towards offensive prey catching. One question in this work was how the frequency of trigger hair bendings is related to the formation of jasmonates and the induction of the digestion process. Upon contact of a prey with the trigger hairs in the inside of the trap, the trap closes and jasmonates are produced biosynthetically. JA-Ile interacts with the COI1- receptor, thereby activating the digestion pathway which leads to the secretion of digestive fluid and production of transporters needed to take up prey-derived nutrients. In this work it could be shown that the number of trigger hair bendings is positively correlated with the level and duration of transcriptional induction of several digestive enzymes/hydrolases. Abscisic acid (ABA) acts, along with many other functions, as the plant "drought stress hormone". It is synthesized either by roots as the primary sensor for water shortage or by guard cells in the leaves. ABA affects a network of several thousand genes whose regulation prepares the plant for drought and initiates protective measurements. It was known from previous work that the application of ABA for 48 hours increased the required amount of trigger hair bendings to achieve trap closure. As the digestion process is very water-intensive, the question arose how exactly the interplay between the jasmonate- and the ABA-pathway is organized, and if ABA could stop the running digestion process once it had been activated. In the present work it could be shown that the application of ABA on intact traps prior to mechanically stimulating the trigger hairs (mechanostimulation) already significantly reduced the transcription of digestive enzymes for an incubation time as short as 4 h, showing that already short-term exposure to ABA counteracts the effects of jasmonates when it comes to initiating the digestion process, but does not inhibit trap closure. Incubation for 24 and 48 hours with 100 μM active ABA had no effect on trap reopening, only very high levels of 200 μM of active ABA inhibited trap reopening but also led to tissue necrosis. As the application of ABA could reduce the transcription of digestive hydrolases, it is likely that Dionaea can stop the digestion process, if corresponding external stimuli are received. Another factor, which only emerged later, was the effect of the wounding-induced systemic jasmonate burst. As efficient as ABA was in inhibiting marker hydrolase expression after mechanostimulation in intact plants, the application of ABA on truncated traps was not able to inhibit mechanostimulation-induced marker hydrolase expression. One reason might be that the ABA-signal is perceived in the roots, and therefore truncated traps were not able to react to it. Another reason might be that the wounding desensitized the tissue for the ABAsignal. Further research is required at this point. Inhibitors of the jasmonate pathway were also used to assess their effect on the regulation of Dionaea´s hunting cycle. Coronatine-O-methyloxime proved to be a potent inhibitor of mechanostimulation-induced expression of digestive enzymes, thus confirming the key regulatory role of jasmonates for Dionaea´s prey consumption mechanism. In a parallel project, the generation of in vitro cultures from sterilized seeds and single plant parts proved successful, which may be important for stock-keeping of future transgenic lines. Protoplasts were generated from leaf blade tissue and transiently transformed, expressing the reporter protein YFP after 24 h of incubation. In the future this might be the starting point for the generation of transgenic lines or the functional testing of DNA constructs.},
  subject      = {Venusfliegenfalle},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Levchenko2009,
  author    = {Levchenko, Victor},
  title     = {Studies of CA 2+ -signaling and CL-conductance changes in response to abscisic acid, voltage changes and cold, in the plasma membrane of guard cells},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-45309},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2009},
  abstract  = {Land plants must control the transpiration water stream and balance it with carbon dioxide uptake for optimal photosynthesis. A highly specialized type of plant cell called guard cells have evolutionary appeared which are suited for this complicated purpose. Guard cells are located by pairs on aerated plant surface and form stomata - structural units, which represent highly regulated "watergate" (Roelfsema and Hedrich, 2005). Guard cells sense many environmental and internal plant-derived stimuli and by changing degree of their swelling tightly regulate diffusion of water vapor and other gases. Cell processes taking place in stomata during their movements had been a subject of intensive investigation for more than three decades (Schroeder et al., 2001; Assmann and Shimazaki, 1999). With use of electrophysiological technique the basic processes underlying stomatal movements were described (Thiel et al., 1992; Dietrich et. al., 2001; Roelfsema and Hedrich, 2005). Another set of questions arised between plant biologists is how the signals affecting stomatal aperture are transduced in guard cells starting from perception by receptor structures and ending on the osmodynamic motor components. Introduction of fluorescent microspectroscopy technique allowed to characterize some Ca2+ and H+-based signaling events, taking place in the cytoplasm during stomata function. Most of the processes, taking place in stomata were characterized in guard cell preparations, such as strips of isolated leaf epidermis or guard cell protoplasts, - cells with enzymaticaly digested cell walls. Some experimental observations although point that reactions of guard cells located in their natural environment, leaves of intact plants can differ from those could be registered in preparations. These deviations might be explained by the modulation of guard cell function by apoplastic factors originating from surrounding tissues like mesophyll or leaf epidermis (Roelfsema and Hedrich, 2002). On the other hand registration of physiological responses in prepared tissues may also contain possible artifacts, related to the preparation procedures. The aim of the experimental work presented here was to investigate the cell signaling events, taking place in guard cells upon plant stress hormone abscisic acid (ABA) and some other stimuli action. Abscisic acid is a compound that synthesized in plant roots upon drought and closes stomata in the leaf to prevent the plant organism from excessive water loss. Previous studies on guard cell of isolated epidermis and guard cell protoplasts showed, that ABA induces stomatal closure via activation of plasma membrane anion channels (Grabov et al., 1997; Pei et al, 1997). Anion channels are known to be activated by elevated 2 concentrations of cytoplasmic Ca2+ [Ca2+]cyt (Schroeder and Hagiwara, 1989; Hedrich et al., 1990). Application of Ca2+-sensitive fluorescent probes revealed [Ca2+]cyt increases in guard cells upon ABA action (McAinsh et al., 1990). This observation led to suggestion that [Ca2+]cyt directly participate in the transduction of ABA signal in guard cells. Although no direct evidences for co-occurrence of [Ca2+]cyt rises and following activation of anion channels upon ABA action was not presented until yet. Results of experimental work performed on intact Vicia faba, Commelina communis and Nicotiana plumbagnifolia plants showed that guard cells of intact plant leaves respond with transient activation of plasma membrane anion channels upon perception of ABA. Kinetics of the response is highly reproducible and seemed to be conserved between species. Although despite clear generation of anion current transients, no [Ca2+]cyt increases could be recorded with using fluorescent probe Fura-2 microinjected into the cytoplasm. Together with results of later study on intact Nicotiana tabacum guard cells, reported obligatory [Ca2+]cyt increases which were desynchronized with anion current transients (Marten et al., 2007b) this, may indicate that [Ca2+]cyt increases are not necessary component of ABA signal transduction pathway. Together with absence of the effect of cytoplasm-delivered Ca2+- mobilizing agents IP3, IP6 and NAADP on anion currents these data may suppose that role of [Ca2+]cyt in ABA signaling must be reassessed. Further interest represented characterization of [Ca2+]cyt signaling and homeostasis in intact guard cells comparing with those in prepared cells. Experiments revealed strong deviations in [Ca2+]cyt behavior between different measuring systems. While guard cells of intact plants were able to strictly maintain [Ca2+]cyt level upon experimental shifting of [Ca2+]cyt level in either direction of elevation or decrease, cells of isolated epidermis showed complete absence of such ability. Guard cell protoplasts showed even weaker [Ca2+]cyt regulation ability and were capable of low physiological [Ca2+]cyt levels maintaining only at depolarized membrane potentials. Apart to these differences, prepared guard cells showed also for-time less activation of anion currents by experimentally imposed [Ca2+]cyt increases. These data strongly suggest that registered in guard cell preparations [Ca2+]cyt signals may contain significant part of artifacts and must be carefully used for the building of models of guard cells signaling. Further experimental investigations are strongly required for understanding guard cell functioning, especially with relation of vacuoles participation. The experimental work was done by the author in the period from october 2001 until november 2004 under supervision of Professor Dr. Rainer Hedrich in laboratory of molecular plant physiology and biophysics at Julius-Maximillians University of W{\"u}rzburg, W{\"u}rz3 burg, Federal Republic of Germany. Scientific coordinator of the Ph. D. project is Dr. Max Robert Gustaaf Roelfsema, University of W{\"u}rzburg. Most of experimental results, presented here (chapter III) are also published elsewhere (Roelfsema et al., 2004; Langer et al., 2004; Levchenko et al., 2005, 2008). Chapter I intend to shortly introduce the reader into the field of guard cell research and point out the current level of understanding regarding this branch of plant research. Special attention is given to description of guard cell ion channels, their function and regulation, including the mechanisms of Ca2+-, H+- and phosphorylation-based signaling. This section is preceded by a short history of guard cell research and explains the actuality of presented work. In chapter II experimental techniques, methods and data processing approaches, used in the presented work are described. Technique used for electrophysiological registrations on intact plant leaves were used before and described in more details by Roelfsema et al. (2001). Fluorescent microspectroscopy technique was for the first time applied to intact plant leaves in this work and described in more details including calibration of Fura-2 based measurements. Chapter III presents the major results of the experimental work. In chapter IV the experimental results are discussed and put into context with current knowledge of guard cell function knowledge. Finally, remarks on perspectives of guard cell signaling research are drawn.},
  subject      = {Schließzelle},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Demir2010,
  author    = {Demir, Fatih},
  title     = {Lipid rafts in Arabidopsis thaliana leaves},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-53223},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2010},
  abstract  = {Arabidopsis thaliana (A.th.) mesophyll cells play a pivotal role in the regulation of the drought stress response. The signaling \& transport components involved in drought stress regulation within lipid rafts of the plasma membrane were investigated by DRM isolation from highly purified plasma membranes. Detergent treatment with Brij-98 and Triton X-100 resulted in a total of 246 DRM proteins which were identified by nano HPLC-MS/MS. The majority of these proteins could be isolated by Triton X-100 treatment (78.5 \%) which remains the "golden" standard for the isolation of DRMs. Comparing in-gel and in-solution digestion approaches disclosed additional protein identifications for each method but the in-gel approach clearly delivered the majority of the identified proteins (81.8 \%). Functionally, a clear bias on signaling proteins was visible - almost 1/3 of the detected DRM proteins belonged to the group of kinases, phosphatases and other signaling proteins. Especially leucine-rich repeat receptor-like protein kinases and calcium-dependent protein kinases were present in Brij-98 \& Triton X-100 DRMs, for instance the calcium-dependent protein kinase CPK21. Another prominent member of DRMs was the protein phosphatase 2C 56, ABI1, which is a key regulator of the ABA-mediated drought stress response in A.th. The lipid raft localization of the identified DRM proteins was confirmed by sterol-depletion with the chemical drug MCD. Proteins which depend upon a sterol-rich environment are depleted from DRMs by MCD application. Especially signaling proteins exhibited a strong sterol-dependency. They represented the vast majority (41.5 \%) among the Triton X-100 DRM proteins which were no longer detected following MCD treatment. AtRem 1.2 \& 1.3 could be shown to be sterol-dependent in mesophyll cells as well as two CPKs (CPK10 \& CPK21) and the protein phosphatase ABI1. AtRem 1.2 \& 1.3 could be proven to represent ideal plant lipid raft marker proteins due to their strong presence in Triton X-100 DRMs and dependency upon a sterol-rich environment. When fluorescence labeled AtRem 1.2 \& 1.3 were transiently expressed in A.th. leaves, they localized to small, patchy structures at the plasma membrane. CPK21 was an intrinsic member of Triton X-100 DRMs and displayed extreme susceptibility to sterol-depletion by MCD in immunological and proteomic assays. Calcium-dependent protein kinases (CPKs) have already been studied to be involved in drought stress regulation, for instance at the regulation of S-type anion channels in guard cells. Hence, further transient expression studies with the anion channel SLAH3, protein kinase CPK21 and its counterpart, protein phosphatase ABI1 were performed in Nicotiana benthamiana. Transient co-expression of CPK21 and the anion channel SLAH3, a highly mesophyll- specific homologue of the guard cell anion channel SLAC1, resulted in a combined, sterol-dependent localization of both proteins in DRMs. Supplementary co-expression of the counterpart protein phosphatase ABI1 induced dislocation of SLAH3 from DRMs, probably by inactivation of the protein kinase CPK21. CPK21 is known to regulate the anion channel SLAH3 by phosphorylation. ABI1 dephosphorylates CPK21 thus leading to deactivation and dislocation of SLAH3 from DRMs. All this regulative events are taking place in DRMs of A.th. mesophyll cells. This study presents the first evidence for a lipid raft-resident protein complex combining signaling and transport functions in A.th. Future perspectives for lipid raft research might target investigations on the lipid raft localization of candidate DRM proteins under presence of abiotic and biotic stress factors. For instance, which alterations in the DRM protein composition are detectable upon exogenous application of the plant hormone ABA? Quantitative proteomics approaches will surely increase our knowledge of the post-transcriptional regulation of gene activity under drought stress conditions.},
  subject      = {Ackerschmalwand},
  language  = {en}
}