Genetic removal of tri-unsaturated fatty acids suppresses developmental and molecular phenotypes of an Arabidopsis tocopherol-deficient mutant. Whole-body mapping of malondialdehyde pools in a complex eukaryote.
Malondialdehyde (MDA) is a small, ubiquitous, and potentially toxic aldehyde that is produced in vivo by lipid oxidation and that is able to affect gene expression. Tocopherol deficiency in the vitamin E2 mutant vte2-1 of Arabidopsis thaliana leads to massive lipid oxidation and MDA accumulation shortly after germination. MDA accumulation correlates with a strong visual phenotype (growth reduction, cotyledon bleaching) and aberrant GST1 (glutathione S-transferase 1) expression. We suppressed MDA accumulation in the vte2-1 background by genetically removing tri-unsaturated fatty acids. The resulting quadruple mutant, fad3-2 fad7-2 fad8 vte2-1, did not display the visual phenotype or the aberrant GST1 expression observed in vte2-1. Moreover, cotyledon bleaching in vte2-1 was chemically phenocopied by treatment of wild-type plants with MDA. These data suggest that products of tri-unsaturated fatty acid oxidation underlie the vte2-1 seedling phenotype, including cellular toxicity and gene regulation properties. Generation of the quadruple mutant facilitated the development of an in situ fluorescence assay based on the formation of adducts of MDA with 2-thiobarbituric acid at 37 degrees C. Specificity was verified by measuring pentafluorophenylhydrazine derivatives of MDA and by liquid chromatography analysis of MDA-2-thiobarbituric acid adducts. Potentially applicable to other organisms, this method allowed the localization of MDA pools throughout the body of Arabidopsis and revealed an undiscovered pool of the compound unlikely to be derived from trienoic fatty acids in the vicinity of the root tip quiescent center.
Mène-Saffrané
Laurent
L
Department of Plant Molecular Biology, University of Lausanne, Batîment Biophore, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Davoine
Céline
C
Stolz
Stéphanie
S
Majcherczyk
Paul
P
Farmer
Edward E
EE
D019883:Alkyl and Aryl Transferases / Q000235:genetics; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D044943:Fatty Acid Desaturases / Q000235:genetics; D005227:Fatty Acids; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic / Q000235:genetics; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D018525:Germination / Q000235:genetics; D005982:Glutathione Transferase / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D008315:Malondialdehyde / Q000378:metabolism*; D018519:Meristem / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010641:Phenotype; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D013858:Thiobarbiturates / Q000378:metabolism; D017392:Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances / Q000032:analysis; D024505:Tocopherols / Q000378:metabolism
D019883:Alkyl and Aryl Transferases; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D044943:Fatty Acid Desaturases; D005227:Fatty Acids; D005982:Glutathione Transferase; D008315:Malondialdehyde; D013858:Thiobarbiturates; D017392:Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances; D024505:Tocopherols; C084083:Fad7 protein, Arabidopsis; C474651:fad3 protein, Arabidopsis; C446531:HPT1 protein, Arabidopsis; C029684:thiobarbituric acid; C478067:At1g02930 protein, Arabidopsis