Skip Navigation


Plant and Cell Physiology Advance Access originally published online on August 21, 2007
Plant and Cell Physiology 2007 48(9):1254-1262; doi:10.1093/pcp/pcm104
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplementary data
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
48/9/1254    most recent
pcm104v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Sasaki, K.
Right arrow Articles by Yazaki, K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Sasaki, K.
Right arrow Articles by Yazaki, K.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Sasaki, K.
Right arrow Articles by Yazaki, K.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Rapid Paper

Plants Utilize Isoprene Emission as a Thermotolerance Mechanism

Kanako Sasaki1, Takuya Saito2, Mari Lämsä3, Kirsi-Marja Oksman-Caldentey3, Masashi Suzuki4, Kiyoshi Ohyama4, Toshiya Muranaka4, Kazuaki Ohara1 and Kazufumi Yazaki1,*

1Laboratory of Plant Gene Expression, Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, 611-0011 Japan
2National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba-City, Ibaraki, 305-8506 Japan
3VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, PO Box 1000 (Tietotie 2), 02044 VTT (Espoo), Finland
4Plant Science Center, RIKEN, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 230-0045 Japan

*Corresponding author: E-mail, yazaki{at}rish.kyoto-u.ac.jp; Fax, +81-774-38-3623.


  Abstract

Isoprene is a volatile compound emitted from leaves of many plant species in large quantities, which has an impact on atmospheric chemistry due to its massive global emission rate (5 x 1014 carbon g year–1) and its high reactivity with the OH radical, resulting in an increase in the half-life of methane. Isoprene emission is strongly induced by the increase in isoprene synthase activity in plastids at high temperature in the day time, which is regulated at its gene expression level in leaves, while the physiological meaning of isoprene emission for plants has not been clearly demonstrated. In this study, we have functionally overexpressed Populus alba isoprene synthase in Arabidopsis to observe isoprene emission from transgenic plants. A striking difference was observed when both transgenic and wild-type plants were treated with heat at 60°C for 2.5 h, i.e. transformants revealed clear heat tolerance compared with the wild type. High isoprene emission and a decrease in the leaf surface temperature were observed in transgenic plants under heat stress treatment. In contrast, neither strong light nor drought treatments showed an apparent difference. These data suggest that isoprene emission plays a crucial role in a heat protection mechanism in plants.

Keywords: Arabidopsis — Environmental stress — Isoprene — Physiological function — Populus alba — Thermotolerance

Abbreviations: DMAPP, dimethylallyl pyrophosphate; DOXP, 1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate; DXR, DOXP reductoisomerase; DXS, DOXP synthase; HMBPP, 1-hydroxy-2-methyl-2-(E)-butenyl 4-diphosphate; HMG-CoA, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutalyl coenzyme A; IspS, isoprene synthase; MEP, 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate; MVA, mevalonate; RT–PCR, reverse transcription–PCR; VOC, volatile organic compound.

(Received July 29, 2007; Accepted August 3, 2007)
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.