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JXB Advance Access published online on February 27, 2008
Journal of Experimental Botany, doi:10.1093/jxb/ern017
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© 2008 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This paper is available online free of all access charges (see http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/open_access.html for further details)

RESEARCH PAPER

Modulation of eIF5A1 expression alters xylem abundance in Arabidopsis thaliana

Zhongda Liu, Jeremy Duguay, Fengshan Ma, Tzann-Wei Wang, Ruth Tshin, Marianne T. Hopkins, Linda McNamara and John E. Thompson*

Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jet{at}uwaterloo.ca

Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A (eIF5A) is thought to facilitate protein synthesis by participating in the nuclear export of specific mRNAs. In Arabidopsis, there are three isoforms of eIF5A. One of them, AteIF5A1, has been shown to be expressed in vascular tissue, specifically developing vessel members, using GUS as a reporter. In order to determine whether AteIF5A1 plays a role in xylem formation, its full-length cDNA was constitutively over-expressed in transgenic Arabidopsis plants. Microscopic analysis revealed that the cross-sectional area of the xylem in the main inflorescence stems of transgenic plants was 1.9-fold higher than those of corresponding inflorescence stems of wild-type plants. In wild-type stems, the primary xylem typically comprised six cell layers and was ~105 µm thick, but increased to 9–11 cell layers, 140–155 µm thick, in transgenic stems. Similarly, the secondary xylem increased from six cell layers, ~70 µm thick, in control stems to ~9 cell layers, 95–105 µm thick, in transgenic stems. Moreover, constitutive down-regulation of AteIF5A1 using antisense technology resulted in the major suppression of xylem formation compared with control plants, and the antisense transgenic plants were also stunted. These data collectively indicate that eIF5A1 plays a role in xylogenesis.

Key words: Arabidopsis thaliana, eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A, inflorescence stem, xylem

Received 5 November 2007; Revised 26 December 2007 Accepted 10 January 2008


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[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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