AtCHIP, a U-box-containing E3 ubiquitin ligase, plays a critical role in temperature stress tolerance in Arabidopsis.
The Arabidopsis gene AtCHIP encodes a protein with three tetratricopeptide repeats and a U-box domain, which is structurally similar to the animal CHIP proteins, a new class of E3 ubiquitin ligases. Like animal CHIP proteins, AtCHIP has E3 ubiquitin ligase activity in vitro. AtCHIP is a single-copy gene, and its transcript is up-regulated by several stress conditions such as low and high temperatures. However, increased AtCHIP expression alone was not correlated with increased stress tolerance; in fact, overexpression of AtCHIP in Arabidopsis rendered plants more sensitive to both low- and high-temperature treatments. Higher electrolyte leakage was observed in leaves of AtCHIP overexpression plants after chilling temperature treatment, suggesting that membrane function is likely impaired in these plants under such a condition. These results indicate that AtCHIP plays an important role in plant cellular metabolism under temperature stress conditions.
Yan
Juqiang
J
Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock 79409, USA.
Wang
Jing
J
Li
Qingtian
Q
Hwang
Jae Ryoung
JR
Patterson
Cam
C
Zhang
Hong
H
D000064:Acclimatization; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D003080:Cold Temperature; D017931:DNA Primers; D004573:Electrolytes / Q000378:metabolism; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D008025:Ligases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology; D013696:Temperature; D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases
D017931:DNA Primers; D004573:Electrolytes; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases; D008025:Ligases