A plasmodesmal glycosyltransferase-like protein

• Published in: PloS one 2013-02, Vol.8 (2), p.e58025-e58025
• Main Authors: Zalepa-King, Lisa, Citovsky, Vitaly
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Amino acids; Arabidopsis; Arabidopsis - cytology; Arabidopsis - enzymology; Arabidopsis - genetics; Arabidopsis - growth & development; Arabidopsis thaliana; Base Sequence; BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; Biochemistry; Biology; Calreticulin; Cell growth; Cell walls; chaperone proteins; Confocal microscopy; Defects; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; Enzymes; Flowers & plants; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Gene silencing; genetically modified plants; Germination; Glycosyltransferase; homozygosity; Host plants; Identification; Kinases; Life cycle engineering; Life cycles; Localization; Mammals; membrane proteins; Microscopy; Molecular Sequence Data; N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferases - chemistry; N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferases - genetics; N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferases - metabolism; Plant cells; Plant Components, Aerial - cytology; Plant Components, Aerial - enzymology; Plant growth; Plant viruses; Plasmodesmata; Plasmodesmata - enzymology; Plasmolysis; protein domains; Protein Transport; Proteins; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; RNA-mediated interference; Seed germination; Structure-function relationships; subcellular localization; T-DNA; tobacco mosaic virus; Transcription factors; Viruses
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0058025

Plasmodesmata (Pd) are plant intercellular connections that represent cytoplasmic conduits for a wide spectrum of cellular transport cargoes, from ions to house-keeping proteins to transcription factors and RNA silencing signals; furthermore, Pd are also utilized by most plant viruses for their spread between host cells. Despite this central role of Pd in the plant life cycle, their structural and functional composition remains poorly characterized. In this study, we used a known Pd-associated calreticulin protein AtCRT1 as bait to isolate other Pd associated proteins in Arabidopsis thaliana. These experiments identified a beta-1,6-N-acetylglucosaminyl transferase-like enzyme (AtGnTL). Subcellular localization studies using confocal microscopy observed AtGnTL at Pd within living plant cells and demonstrated colocalization with a Pd callose-binding protein (AtPDCB1). That AtGnTL is resident in Pd was consistent with its localization within the plant cell wall following plasmolysis. Initial characterization of an Arabidopsis T-DNA insertional mutant in the AtGnTL gene revealed defects in seed germination and delayed plant growth.