| 研究実績の概要 |
Abscisic acid (ABA) regulates plant responses and adaption to stress, allowing plants to survive in hostile environments. Although cellular ABA accumulation triggers a series of such plant-physiological processes, how plants rapidly produce ABA upon the onset of stress remains to be elucidated. ABA is produced by the multi-step biosynthesis and the single-step hydrolysis of inactive ABA-glucoside conjugates. We recently reported that the latter reaction occurs quickly preceding the former and is likely activated by stress-induced endoplasmic reticulum dynamics involving protein trafficking. To elucidate quick ABA production as a crucial early step for plant stress adaptation, this study examined the behavior of a major enzyme responsible for ABA-glucoside hydrolysis in response to stress conditions by using confocal laser scanning microscopy, immunoblotting, and immuno-electron microscopy. Even though the research project had to be terminated less than ten months after its inception due to unavoidable circumstances with a fellow researcher, the obtained results suggested that such organellar dynamics cause alteration in the enzyme's subcellular localization, which would facilitate quick access of the enzyme to its substrate stored in different compartments.
|
