Characterisation of Arabidopsis ABA receptors

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Erwin Grill
• Subject Area: Plant Physiology
• Term: from 2010 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 158273560

• Final Report Year: 2015

Final Report Abstract

The phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) serves as a signal in response to abiotic stress. ABA induces stomatal closure for maintaining plants’ water status and mediates long-term adjustments to cope with abiotic stress. ABA perception recruits an ABA-binding regulatory component RCAR/PYR1/PYL and an associated protein phosphatase 2C (PP2C) comprising small protein families of 14 and 9 members in Arabidopsis, respectively. Phytohormone binding inactivates the phosphatase activity of the co-receptor permitting phospho-relay of the ABA signal via downstream protein kinases that target ion channels and transcription factors. The combinatorial interaction among ABA receptors and co-receptors, the specificity of PP2C interactions, specificity and affinity of ligand binding, and the physiological role of distinct ABA receptors has been elucidated in this study.

Publications

• ABA perception and signaling (2010). Trends Plant Sci. 15, 395-401
  Raghavendra AS, Gonugunta VK, Christmann A, Grill E
  
• Closely related receptor complexes differ in their ABA selectivity and sensitivity (2010). Plant J. 61, 25-35
  Szostkiewicz I, Richter K, Kepka M, Demmel S, Ma Y, Korte A, Assaad FF, Christmann A, Grill E
  
• Action of natural abscisic acid precursors and catabolites on abscisic acid receptor complexes (2011). Plant Physiol. 157, 2108-2119
  Kepka M, Benson CL, Gonugunta VK, Nelson KM, Christmann A, Grill E, Abrams SR
  
• Stomatal closure by fast abscisic acid signaling is mediated by the guard cell anion channel SLAH3 and the receptor RCAR1 (2011). Sci Signal. 17; 4:ra32
  Geiger D, Maierhofer T, Al-Rasheid KA, Scherzer S, Mumm P, Liese A, Ache P, Wellmann C, Marten I, Grill E, Romeis T, Hedrich R
  
• Type 2C protein phosphatases in plants (2013). FEBS J. 280, 681-693
  Fuchs S, Grill E, Meskiene I, Schweighofer A
  
• Abscisic acid analogs as chemical probes for dissection of abscisic acid responses in Arabidopsis thaliana (2014). Phytochemistry S0031-9422(14)00136-8
  Benson CL, Kepka M, Wunschel C, Rajagopalan N, Nelson KM, Christmann A, Abrams SR, Grill E, Loewen MC
  
• Abscisic acid sensor RCAR7/PYL13, specific regulator of protein phosphatase coreceptors (2014). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 111, 5741-5746
  Fuchs S, Tischer SV, Wunschel C, Christmann A, Grill E