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JXB Advance Access originally published online on November 29, 2004
Journal of Experimental Botany 2005 56(412):557-565; doi:10.1093/jxb/eri034
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Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol. 56, No. 412, © Society for Experimental Biology 2004; all rights reserved

RESEARCH PAPER

Actin expression is induced and three isoforms are differentially expressed during germination in Zea mays

Claudia Díaz-Camino1,2, Renaud Conde2, Nick Ovsenek2 and Marco A. Villanueva1,*

1Departamento de Biología Molecular de Plantas, Instituto de Biotecnología, UNAM, Apartado Postal 510-3, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62250, México
2Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, 107 Wiggins Rd, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7N 5E5

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Fax: +52 777 313 9988. E-mail: marco{at}ibt.unam.mx

Previous analysis of actin in a dicotyledonous plant, Phaseolus vulgaris (or common bean), showed very low actin levels in cotyledons but they were concentrated in the embryo axis. Upon imbibition, actin expression increased 5-fold and a maximum of four actin isoforms were observed, two of them transient and two major ones were steadily expressed. In this work, analysis of the actin expression in a monocotyledonous plant, Zea mays (or maize), and over a longer period of germination/growth, showed that striking similarities exist. Actin is present in all the seed components, but it is mainly concentrated in the embryo axis. The expression of maize actin was induced during post-imbibition at both the protein and mRNA levels. Sharp increases in actin appeared from 24–48 h and again from 72–96 h. A more modest and steady actin mRNA increase in expression was observed; however, it did not appear as dramatic as in the case of common bean due to the presence of readily detectable amounts of message in the dry maize seed. The isoform distribution in the dry seed showed a pattern of at least three isovariants of pIs ~ 5.0, 5.1, and 5.2, which were differentially expressed at the various post-imbibition times analysed. Two of the actin isoforms at 48 h post-imbibition cross-reacted with a phosphotyrosine-specific antibody and they are the product of three expressed genes as shown by in vitro translation assays. These data indicate that maize actin protein and mRNA expression is induced upon the trigger of germination, and the isoform expression kinetics and patterns resemble those from bean, suggesting that, in both species, actin expression at these early germination/growth stages is a highly regulated event.

Key words: Actin, germination, isoforms, phosphorylation, seeds, Z. mays


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