title: Calcium and calcium receptor CAS promote Arabidopsis thaliana de-etiolation.
abstract: As a second messenger, the free cytosolic calcium ion (Ca(2+)) plays important roles in many biochemical and physiological processes including photosynthesis in plants. In this study, we investigated morphological changes, chlorophyll accumulation and chloroplast development during early photomorphogenesis in etiolated seedlings of both Arabidopsis thaliana wild type (WT) and those with the antisense of CAS, a calcium sensor (CASas). Seedlings were grown at high, medium and low Ca(2+) concentrations to identify the roles of Ca(2+) and CAS in de-etiolation and chloroplast development. The results demonstrated that Ca(2+) and CAS are correlated with de-etiolation of A. thaliana after light exposure. High Ca(2+) significantly increased chlorophyll content and improved chloroplast development in both A. thaliana WT and CASas etiolated seedlings during de-etiolation. The analysis by western blot and real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction indicated that the expression levels of CAS mRNA and protein were upregulated by white light and external Ca(2+) significantly. Etiolated CASas plants showed much lower chlorophyll content and delay of chloroplast development as compared with WT plants, indicating that CAS functions in de-etiolation. All together, we concluded that the de-etiolation in A. thaliana was promoted by the high Ca(2+) concentration and CAS expression to a certain extent.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Subtropical Wetland Ecosystem Research, Ministry of Education of China, College of the Environment and Ecology, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, China.
authors.forename: Shan-Shan
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xue-Jun
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Patton
authors.forename: Zhen-Ming
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Pei
authors.forename: Hai-Lei
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism*; D002736:Chloroplasts / Q000502:physiology; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D009024:Morphogenesis / Q000502:physiology; D018547:Plant Stems / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D044169:Receptors, Calcium-Sensing / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D036226:Seedlings / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D044169:Receptors, Calcium-Sensing; D002118:Calcium