Showing papers by "Michael R. Sussman published in 2012"

The Effect of a Genetically Reduced Plasma Membrane Protonmotive Force on Vegetative Growth of Arabidopsis

Abstract: The plasma membrane proton gradient is an essential feature of plant cells. In Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), this gradient is generated by the plasma membrane proton pump encoded by a family of 11 genes (abbreviated as AHA, for Arabidopsis H+-ATPase), of which AHA1 and AHA2 are the two most predominantly expressed in seedlings and adult plants. Although double knockdown mutant plants containing T-DNA insertions in both genes are embryonic lethal, under ideal laboratory growth conditions, single knockdown mutant plants with a 50% reduction in proton pump concentration complete their life cycle without any observable growth alteration. However, when grown under conditions that induce stress on the plasma membrane protonmotive force (PMF), such as high external potassium to reduce the electrical gradient or high external pH to reduce the proton chemical gradient, aha2 mutant plants show a growth retardation compared with wild-type plants. In this report, we describe the results of studies that examine in greater detail AHA2’s specific role in maintaining the PMF during seedling growth. By comparing the wild type and aha2 mutants, we have measured the effects of a reduced PMF on root and hypocotyl growth, ATP-induced skewed root growth, and rapid cytoplasmic calcium spiking. In addition, genome-wide gene expression profiling revealed the up-regulation of potassium transporters in aha2 mutants, indicating, as predicted, a close link between the PMF and potassium uptake at the plasma membrane. Overall, this characterization of aha2 mutants provides an experimental and theoretical framework for investigating growth and signaling processes that are mediated by PMF-coupled energetics at the cell membrane.

Medicago PhosphoProtein Database: a repository for Medicago truncatula phosphoprotein data.

Abstract: The ability of legume crops to fix atmospheric nitrogen via a symbiotic association with soil rhizobia makes them an essential component of many agricultural systems. Initiation of this symbiosis requires protein phosphorylation-mediated signaling in response to rhizobial signals named Nod factors. Medicago truncatula (Medicago) is the model system for studying legume biology, making the study of its phosphoproteome essential. Here, we describe the Medicago Phosphoprotein Database (http://phospho.medicago.wisc.edu), a repository built to house phosphoprotein, phosphopeptide, and phosphosite data specific to Medicago. Currently, the Medicago Phosphoprotein Database holds 3,457 unique phosphopeptides that contain 3,404 non-redundant sites of phosphorylation on 829 proteins. Through the web-based interface, users are allowed to browse identified proteins or search for proteins of interest. Furthermore, we allow users to conduct BLAST searches of the database using both peptide sequences and phosphorylation motifs as queries. The data contained within the database are available for download to be investigated at the user’s discretion. The Medicago Phosphoprotein Database will be updated continually with novel phosphoprotein and phosphopeptide identifications, with the intent of constructing an unparalleled compendium of large-scale Medicago phosphorylation data.

DNA millichips as a low-cost platform for gene expression analysis

Abstract: Our goal was to create a DNA chip that is as easy, convenient, and inexpensive as an agarose gel. For a first-generation solution, we describe a low-cost, easy-to-use de novo synthesis oligonucleotide microarray technology that draws on the inherent flexibility of the maskless array synthesizer for in situ synthesis of thousands of photolithographically produced oligonucleotides covalently attached to a microscope slide. The method involves physically subdividing the slide into 1 × 1 mm millichips that are hybridized to fluorescent RNA or DNA of biological origin, in a microfuge tube at an ordinary laboratory benchtop, rather than in dedicated hybridization chambers. Fluorescence intensity is then measured with a standard microscope rather than sophisticated DNA chip scanners. For proof of principle, we measured changes in the transcriptome of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) plants induced by growth in the presence of three major environmental abiotic stresses (temperature, light, and water status), in all possible combinations. Validation by comparison with quantitative reverse transcription PCR showed a high correlation coefficient and analysis of variance indicated a high technical reproducibility. These experiments demonstrate that low-cost DNA millichips can be made and reliably used at the benchtop in a normal laboratory setting, without assistance of core facilities containing costly specialized instrumentation.

Title: A proteogenomic survey of the Medicago truncatula genome

Abstract: Peptide sequencing by computational assignment of tandem mass spectra to a database of putative protein sequences provides an independent approach to confirming or refuting protein predictions based on large-scale DNA and RNA sequencing efforts. This use of mass spectrometrically-derived sequence data for testing and refining predicted gene models has been termed proteogenomics. We report herein the application of proteogenomic methodology to a database of 10.9 million tandem mass spectra collected over a period of two years from proteolytically generated peptides isolated from the model legume Medicago truncatula. These spectra were searched against a database of predicted M. truncatula protein sequences generated from public databases, in silico gene model predictions, and a whole-genome six-frame translation. This search identified 78,647 distinct peptide sequences, and a comparison with the publicly available proteome from the recently published M. truncatula genome supported translation of 9,843 existing gene models and identified 1,568 novel peptides suggesting corrections or additions to the current annotations. Each supporting and novel peptide was independently validated using mRNA-derived deep sequencing coverage and an overall correlation of 93% between the two data types was observed. We have additionally highlighted examples of several aspects of structural annotation for which tandem MS provides unique evidence not easily obtainable through typical DNA or RNA sequencing. Proteogenomic analysis is a valuable and unique source of information for the structural annotation of genomes and should be included in such efforts to ensure that the genome models used by biologists mirror as accurately as possible what is present in the cell.