Involvement of post-transcriptional regulatory pathways in ABA and glucose signaling: fast-adaptive responses to stress conditions and development control

• Grant number: 12/22125-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Effective date (Start): March 01, 2013
• Effective date (End): February 29, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Plant Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Michel Georges Albert Vincentz
• Grantee: Gustavo Turqueto Duarte
• Host Institution: Centro de Biologia Molecular e Engenharia Genética (CBMEG). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 08/52071-0 - Energetic homeostasis and sugar signaling: diversification of the molecular mechanisms involved in the control of the energetic balance in angiosperms, AP.BIOEN.TEM

Abstract

Plants have developed a set of mechanisms that allow adaptation to adverse environmental conditions to maintain the energetic homeostasis, hence ensuring its development and propagation. Such adaptive responses involve the interaction between ABA signaling (abiotic stress-related hormone) and energy signaling (i.e. sugar signaling). The involvement of post-transcriptional regulations in responses triggered by ABA or glucose still is poorly understood. Recently, we found evidences of post-transcriptional regulations acting over the expression control of the transcription factor AtbZIP63 in response to glucose and ABA in Arabidopsis thaliana. To explore the potential of mRNA stability control mediated by glucose and ABA, we used transcription inhibition optimized conditions to identify by transcriptome analysis that 204 transcripts are potential targets of post-transcriptional control by glucose, while such regulations promoted by ABA may act over 245 transcripts. This data showed a relevant relation with stress-adaptive responses, possibly reflecting the need coordinating fast responses to adaptation. Additionally, post-transcriptional responses to ABA seems to act as a fast mechanism of negative feedback over the hormone signaling core, a way to desensitize and restart the responses of the pathway. Such preliminary findings point to a significant importance of the mRNA stability control in adaptive responses, leading to the question of which would be the subjacent mechanisms involved in such regulations. (AU)