Skip Navigation



Plant and Cell Physiology Advance Access published online on June 13, 2007
Plant and Cell Physiology, doi:10.1093/pcp/pcm071
This Article
Right arrow Advance Access manuscript (PDF)
Right arrow Supplementary data
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
48/7/1010    most recent
pcm071v2
pcm071v1
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 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 Fouquaert, E.
Right arrow Articles by Van Damme, E. J.M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Fouquaert, E.
Right arrow Articles by Van Damme, E. J.M.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Fouquaert, E.
Right arrow Articles by Van Damme, E. J.M.
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 e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Localization and topogenesis studies of cytoplasmic and vacuolar homologs of the Galanthus nivalis agglutinin

Elke Fouquaert1, Sally L. Hanton2,*, Federica Brandizzi2,3, Willy J. Peumans1 and Els J.M. Van Damme1

1Laboratory of Biochemistry and Glycobiology, Department of Molecular Biotechnology, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Gent, Belgium
2Department of Biology, 112 Science Place, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon SK S7N 5E2 Canada
3U.S. Department of Energy Plant Research Laboratory, Michigan State University, Plant Biology Building, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA

Corresponding author: Els J.M. Van Damme. Department of Molecular Biotechnology, Lab. Biochemistry and Glycobiology, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Gent, Belgium. Tel: +32 92646086; FAX: +32 92646219, E-mail: ElsJM.VanDamme{at}UGent.be


  Abstract

The Galanthus nivalis agglutinin (GNA) is synthesized as a preproprotein. To corroborate the role of the different targeting peptides in the topogenesis of GNA and related proteins, different constructs were made whereby both the complete original GNA gene and different truncated sequences were coupled to the green fluorescent protein (EGFP). In addition, a GNA-ortholog from rice that lacks the signal peptide and C-terminal propeptide sequence was fused to EGFP. These fusion constructs were expressed in tobacco BY-2 cells and their localization analyzed by confocal fluorescence microscopy. We observed that the processed preproprotein of GNA was directed towards the vacuolar compartment whereas both the truncated forms of GNA corresponding to the mature lectin polypeptide and the rice ortholog of GNA were located in the nucleus and the cytoplasm. It can be concluded, therefore, that removal of the C-terminal propeptide and the signal peptide is sufficient to change the subcellular targeting of a normally vacuolar protein into the nuclear/cytoplasmic compartment of the BY-2 cells. These findings support the proposed hypothesis that cytoplasmic/nuclear GNA-like proteins and their vacuolar homologs are evolutionarily related and that the classical GNA-related lectins might have evolved from cytoplasmic orthologs through an evolutionary event involving the insertion of a signal peptide and a C-terminal propeptide.

Keywords: cytoplasmic ortholog - Galanthus nivalis agglutinin - lectin - subcellular location

* New address: Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology Medical School, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Catherine Cookson Building, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, United Kingdom


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.