title: Glutathione application affects the transcript profile of genes in Arabidopsis seedling.
abstract: Glutathione (GSH), a tripeptide thiol compound has multiple functions in plants. Recent works suggested that GSH plays a regulatory role in signaling in plants as part of their adaptation to stress. To better understand the role of GSH as a regulatory molecule, 14 days old Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings were treated with 5mM of GSH for 4h. Changes in gene expression patterns were studied by cDNA microarray analysis. The expression of 453 genes was significantly changed compared to the untreated control, of which 261 genes were up-regulated and 192 genes were down-regulated. Genes from several groups were affected, including those of sulfur metabolism, degradation and synthesis of macromolecules and transcription factors. Up-regulation of genes involved in responses to biotic stresses, or in jasmonate or salicylic acid synthesis and their signaling, suggests that GSH triggers genes that help protect the plants during stresses. In addition, GSH down regulated genes involved in plant growth and development, like those involved in cell wall synthesis and its extension, and genes associated with auxin and cytokinins response, which are related to growth and development of the plants. The results suggest that GSH might have a role in response to biotic stress by initiating defense responses and modifying plants' growth and development in an effort to tune their sessile lifestyle of plants to environmental constraints.
authors: Laboratory of Plant Science, Migal Galilee Research Institute, P.O. Box 831, Kiryat Shmona 12100, Israel.
authors: Yael
authors: Y
authors: Hacham
authors: Laboratory of Plant Science, Migal Galilee Research Institute, P.O. Box 831, Kiryat Shmona 12100, Israel.
authors: Shai
authors: S
authors: Koussevitzky
authors: Department of Plant Science, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors: Menny
authors: M
authors: Kirma
authors: Laboratory of Plant Science, Migal Galilee Research Institute, P.O. Box 831, Kiryat Shmona 12100, Israel; Tel Hai College, Upper Galilee, Israel. Electronic address: rachel@migal.org.il.
authors: Rachel
authors: R
authors: Amir
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015536:Down-Regulation; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D005978:Glutathione / Q000494:pharmacology*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D036226:Seedlings / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D059467:Transcriptome; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D005978:Glutathione
keywords: Biotic stress; Development; Glutathione; Microarray analysis; Signaling