title: Increasing abscisic acid levels by immunomodulation in barley grains induces precocious maturation without changing grain composition.
abstract: Abscisic acid (ABA) accumulates in seeds during the transition to the seed filling phase. ABA triggers seed maturation, storage activity, and stress signalling and tolerance. Immunomodulation was used to alter the ABA status in barley grains, with the resulting transgenic caryopses responding to the anti-ABA antibody gene expression with increased accumulation of ABA. Calculation of free versus antibody-bound ABA reveals large excess of free ABA, increasing signficantly in caryopses from 10 days after fertilization. Metabolite and transcript profiling in anti-ABA grains expose triggered and enhanced ABA-functions such as transcriptional up-regulation of sucrose-to-starch metabolism, storage protein synthesis and ABA-related signal transduction. Thus, enhanced ABA during transition phases induces precocious maturation but negatively interferes with growth and development. Anti-ABA grains display broad constitutive gene induction related to biotic and abiotic stresses. Most of these genes are ABA- and/or stress-inducible, including alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenases, peroxidases, chaperones, glutathione-S-transferase, drought- and salt-inducible proteins. Conclusively, ABA immunomodulation results in precocious ABA accumulation that generates an integrated response of stress and maturation. Repression of ABA signalling, occurring in anti-ABA grains, potentially antagonizes effects caused by overshooting production. Finally, mature grain weight and composition are unchanged in anti-ABA plants, although germination is somewhat delayed. This indicates that anti-ABA caryopses induce specific mechanisms to desensitize ABA signalling efficiently, which finally yields mature grains with nearly unchanged dry weight and composition. Such compensation implicates the enormous physiological and metabolic flexibilities of barley grains to adjust effects of unnaturally high ABA amounts in order to ensure and maintain proper grain development.
authors.affiliation: Leibniz-Institut für Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung, D-06466 Gatersleben, Germany.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Staroske
authors.affiliation: Leibniz-Institut für Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung, D-06466 Gatersleben, Germany.
authors.forename: Udo
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Conrad
authors.affiliation: Leibniz-Institut für Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung, D-06466 Gatersleben, Germany.
authors.forename: Jochen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kumlehn
authors.affiliation: Leibniz-Institut für Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung, D-06466 Gatersleben, Germany.
authors.forename: Götz
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hensel
authors.affiliation: Leibniz-Institut für Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung, D-06466 Gatersleben, Germany.
authors.forename: Ruslana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Radchuk
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Erban
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany.
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kopka
authors.affiliation: Leibniz-Institut für Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung, D-06466 Gatersleben, Germany.
authors.forename: Winfriede
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Weschke
authors.affiliation: Leibniz-Institut für Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung, D-06466 Gatersleben, Germany weber@ipk-gatersleben.de.
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Weber
mesh_terms: D000040:Abscisic Acid / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D001467:Hordeum / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D055314:Seed Storage Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D012639:Seeds / Q000737:chemistry / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D013213:Starch / Q000032:analysis; D013395:Sucrose / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D010937:Plant Growth Regulators; D055314:Seed Storage Proteins; D013395:Sucrose; D000040:Abscisic Acid; D013213:Starch
keywords: Abscisic acid; barley; grain composition; grain maturation; immunomodulation; seed development; stress signalling.