Research article Jasmonate response of the Nicotiana tabacum agglutinin promoter in Arabidopsis thaliana Annelies Delporte a,1 , Nausicaä Lannoo a, 1 , Gianni Vandenborre a, 2 , Maté Ongenaert b, 3 , Els J.M. Van Damme a, * a Ghent University, Department of Molecular Biotechnology, Lab of Biochemistry and Glycobiology, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium b Ghent University, Department of Molecular Biotechnology, Lab of Bio-Informatics and Computational Genomics, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium article info Article history: Received 4 January 2011 Accepted 20 April 2011 Available online xxx Keywords: Arabidopsis thaliana b-glucuronidase Jasmonate Lectin Nicotiana tabacum abstract NICTABA is a carbohydrate-binding protein (also called lectin) that is expressed in several Nicotiana species after treatment with jasmonates and insect herbivory. Analyses with tobacco lines over- expressing the NICTABA gene as well as lines with reduced lectin expression have shown the entomotoxic effect of NICTABA against Lepidopteran larvae, suggesting a role of the lectin in plant defense. Until now, little is known with respect to the upstream regulatory mechanisms that are controlling the expression of inducible plant lectins. Using Arabidopsis thaliana plants stably expressing a promoter-b-glucuronidase (GUS) fusion construct, it was shown that jasmonate treatment influenced the NICTABA promoter activity. A strong GUS staining pattern was detected in very young tissues (the apical and root meristems, the cotyledons and the first true leaves), but the promoter activity decreased when plants were getting older. NICTABA was also expressed at low concentrations in tobacco roots and expression levels increased after cold treatment. The data presented confirm a jasmonate-dependent response of the promoter sequence of the tobacco lectin gene in Arabidopsis. These new jasmonate-responsive tobacco promoter sequences can be used as new tools in the study of jasmonate signalling related to plant development and defense. Ó 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Jasmonic acid (JA), its precursors and derivatives, collectively called jasmonates, constitute a family of bioactive oxylipins that regulate many physiological plant responses to environmental and developmental signals. As genuine plant hormones they affect a variety of plant processes including defense against insects and pathogens, abiotic stresses, growth, development, fertility and senescence [1,2]. However, the outcome of jasmonate signalling is not the result of the action of a single molecule but rather reflects part of an integrated signalling network comprising many other molecules such as ethylene, salicylic acid and abscisic acid [3]. It is well documented that external stimuli such as wounding, pests, pathogens or developmental cues can elicit jasmonate synthesis from the fatty acid a-linolenic acid through the octade- canoid pathway [2]. After release from the plastid membrane into the stroma of the chloroplasts, a-linolenic acid is converted by several enzymatic reactions into the jasmonate-precursor 12-oxo- phytodienoic acid, better known as OPDA. Afterwards, OPDA is transported to the peroxisomes where it becomes reduced and converted via the fatty acid b-oxidation reactions to form JA. Finally, the biologically active compound JA can act by itself, or can be metabolized into a whole array of related jasmonates that can have unique signalling properties different from JA [2,4]. Using promoter-GUS fusions it was shown that the promoter for allene oxide synthase, the catalysator of the first reaction in the jasmonate biosynthesis pathway, is subject to developmental control in Arabidopsis. This promoter is activated upon wound- ing and treatment with jasmonic acid, 12-oxophytodienic acid and coronatine. Furthermore evidence was provided that the signalling pathways that lead to wound or jasmonate activation Abbreviations: GUS, b-glucuronidase; JA, jasmonic acid; MeJA, methyl jasmo- nate; NICTABA, Nicotiana tabacum agglutinin. * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ32 9 264 60 86; fax: þ32 9 264 62 19. E-mail addresses: Annelies.Delporte@UGent.be (A. Delporte), Nausicaa.Lannoo@ UGent.be (N. Lannoo), gvdenbor@gmail.com (G. Vandenborre), Mate.Ongenaert@ UGent.be (M. Ongenaert), ElsJM.VanDamme@UGent.be (E.J.M. Van Damme). 1 These authors contributed equally to this work. 2 Present address: Ablynx NV, Technologiepark 21, 9052 Ghent, Belgium. 3 Present address: Department of Pediatrics and Medical Genetics, De Pintelaan 185 MRB, 9000 Ghent, Belgium. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Plant Physiology and Biochemistry journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/plaphy 0981-9428/$ e see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.plaphy.2011.04.011 Plant Physiology and Biochemistry xxx (2011) 1e9 Please cite this article in press as: A. Delporte, et al., Jasmonate response of the Nicotiana tabacum agglutinin promoter in Arabidopsis thaliana, Plant Physiology and Biochemistry (2011), doi:10.1016/j.plaphy.2011.04.011