Monoterpene-induced molecular responses in Arabidopsis thaliana.
Terpenoid volatiles mediate various forms of chemical communications of plants with other organisms. In this paper we demonstrate that exposure of intact Arabidopsis thaliana plants to monoterpene volatiles results in substantial changes of the plant transcriptome and induction of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) accumulation. We used a heterologous pinII::GUS reporter system to test monoterpenes for their potential to induce a response in A. thaliana. Plants showed increased pinII-promoter activity upon exposure to different monoterpene volatiles, similar to the response induced by MeJA, mechanical wounding, or insect feeding. Microarray gene expression profiling indicated induced changes in the abundance of several hundred transcripts in wild-type plants upon either exposure to myrcene volatiles or exposure to a blend of ocimene volatiles consisting of (E)-beta-ocimene, (Z)-beta-ocimene, and allo-ocimene. Many of the monoterpene-induced transcripts are annotated as either transcription factors or as stress or defense genes including several steps in the octadecanoid pathway. Metabolite analysis showed that exposure of Arabidopsis for 2h to myrcene or ocimene induced increased tissue levels of MeJA. Octadecanoid biosynthesis (aoc) and signaling (coi1) mutants showed some reduced ocimene-induction of gene expression.
Godard
Kimberley-Ann
KA
Michael Smith Laboratories, University of British Columbia, 321-2185 East Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 1Z4.
White
Richard
R
Bohlmann
Jörg
J
D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D039821:Monoterpenes / Q000494:pharmacology*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D015854:Up-Regulation; D014835:Volatilization
D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D039821:Monoterpenes; D014157:Transcription Factors