Abiotic stress response in the moss Physcomitrella patens: evidence for an evolutionary alteration in signaling pathways in land plants.

Abstract

The mechanisms plants use to adapt to abiotic stress have been widely studied in a number of seed plants. Major research has been focused on the isolation of stress-responsive genes as a means to understand the molecular events underlying the adaptation process. To study stress-related gene regulation in the moss Physcomitrella patens we have isolated two cDNAs showing homology to highly conserved small hydrophobic proteins from different seed plants. The corresponding genes are up-regulated by dehydration, salt, sorbitol, cold and the hormone abscisic acid, indicating overlapping pathways are involved in the control of these genes. Based on the molecular characterization of the moss homologs we propose that signaling pathways in response to abiotic stress may have been altered during the evolution of land plants.

• Authors: K Kroemer, R Reski, W Frank
• Journal: Plant cell reports (Plant Cell Rep) Vol. 22 Issue 11 Pg. 864-70 (Jun 2004) ISSN: 0721-7714 [Print] Germany
• PMID: 15034746 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: Copyright 2004 Springer-Verlag

Chemical References

• Salts
• Abscisic Acid

Topics

• Abscisic Acid (pharmacology)
• Amino Acid Sequence
• Bryopsida (drug effects, genetics, metabolism)
• Cold Temperature
• Conserved Sequence
• Dehydration
• Evolution, Molecular
• Gene Expression Regulation, Plant
• Genes, Plant
• Molecular Sequence Data
• Osmotic Pressure
• Salts (pharmacology)
• Signal Transduction