TY - JOUR
T1 - Molecular and biochemical characterization of the Fe(III) chelate reductase gene family in Arabidopsis thaliana
AU - Wu, Huilan
AU - Li, Lihua
AU - Du, Juan
AU - Yuan, Youxi
AU - Cheng, Xudong
AU - Ling, Hong Qing
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Professor Dr. Beat Keller (University of Zurich, Switzerland) for critical reading of the manuscript. This work was supported by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (grant No. 2004AA222110 to H.-Q.L.) and by a talented young scientist grant of the Chinese National Science Foundation to H-Q.L. (grant No. 30225029) as well as by the HarvestPlus program of China.
PY - 2005/9
Y1 - 2005/9
N2 - Iron chelate reductase is required for iron acquisition from soil and for metabolism in plants. In the genome of Arabidopsis thaliana there are eight genes classified into the iron chelate reductase gene family (AtFROs) based on sequence homology with AtFRO2 (a ferric chelate reductase in Arabidopsis). They are localized on chromosome 1 (three AtFROs) and chromosome 5 (five AtFROs) of Arabidopsis and show a high level of amino acid sequence similarity to each other. An assay for ferric chelate reductase activity revealed that AtFRO2, AtFRO3, AtFRO4, AtFRO5, AtFRO7 and AtFRO8 conferred significantly increased iron reduction activity compared with the control when expressed in yeast cells, indicating that the six AtFROs encode iron chelate reductases functioning in iron homeostasis in Arabidopsis. AtFkO2 displayed the highest iron reduction activity among the AtFROs investigated, further demonstrating that AtFRO2 is a major iron reductase gene in Arabidopsis. AtFRO2 and AtFRO3 were mainly expressed in roots of Arabidopsis, AtFRO5 and AtFRO6 in shoots and flowers, and AtFRO7 in cotyledons and trichomes, whereas the transcription of AtFRO8 was specific for leaf veins. Considering the tissue-specific expression profiles of AtFRO genes, we suggest that AtFRO2 and AtFRO3 are two Fe(III) chelate reductases mainly functioning in iron acquisition and metabolism in Arabidopsis roots, while AtFRO5, AtFRO6, AtFRO7 and AtFRO8 are required for iron homeostasis in different tissues of shoots.
AB - Iron chelate reductase is required for iron acquisition from soil and for metabolism in plants. In the genome of Arabidopsis thaliana there are eight genes classified into the iron chelate reductase gene family (AtFROs) based on sequence homology with AtFRO2 (a ferric chelate reductase in Arabidopsis). They are localized on chromosome 1 (three AtFROs) and chromosome 5 (five AtFROs) of Arabidopsis and show a high level of amino acid sequence similarity to each other. An assay for ferric chelate reductase activity revealed that AtFRO2, AtFRO3, AtFRO4, AtFRO5, AtFRO7 and AtFRO8 conferred significantly increased iron reduction activity compared with the control when expressed in yeast cells, indicating that the six AtFROs encode iron chelate reductases functioning in iron homeostasis in Arabidopsis. AtFkO2 displayed the highest iron reduction activity among the AtFROs investigated, further demonstrating that AtFRO2 is a major iron reductase gene in Arabidopsis. AtFRO2 and AtFRO3 were mainly expressed in roots of Arabidopsis, AtFRO5 and AtFRO6 in shoots and flowers, and AtFRO7 in cotyledons and trichomes, whereas the transcription of AtFRO8 was specific for leaf veins. Considering the tissue-specific expression profiles of AtFRO genes, we suggest that AtFRO2 and AtFRO3 are two Fe(III) chelate reductases mainly functioning in iron acquisition and metabolism in Arabidopsis roots, while AtFRO5, AtFRO6, AtFRO7 and AtFRO8 are required for iron homeostasis in different tissues of shoots.
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U2 - 10.1093/pcp/pci163
DO - 10.1093/pcp/pci163
M3 - Article
C2 - 16006655
AN - SCOPUS:26444464710
SN - 0032-0781
VL - 46
SP - 1505
EP - 1514
JO - Plant and Cell Physiology
JF - Plant and Cell Physiology
IS - 9
ER -