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Title: TISSUE SPECIFIC EXPRESSION AND LOCALIZATION OF SAFENER INDUCED GLUTATHIONE S-TRANSFERASE PROTEINS IN TRITICUM TAUSCHII

Author
item RIECHERS, DEAN - UNIV OF ILLINOIS
item ZHANG, QIN - UNIV OF ILLINOIS
item XU, FANGXIU - UNIV OF ILLINOIS
item Vaughn, Kevin

Submitted to: Planta
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/24/2003
Publication Date: 6/24/2003
Citation: Riechers, D.E., Zhang, Q., Xu, F., Vaughn, K.C. 2003. Tissue specific expression and localization of safener induced glutathione s-transferase proteins in triticum tauschii. Planta 217:831-840.

Interpretive Summary: Treatment of normally herbicide-sensitive crop species with safeners prior to herbicide exposure allows the crop to be treated with a herbicide that would normally kill that crop. This allows weed control practices that would control many weed species. The mechanism for this safening process is not well understood, however. In this study, we showed that the coleoptile, a structure that surrounds the developing grass seedling, is the site of herbicide detoxification induced by the safener. These data indicate the importance of the coleoptile in herbicide metabolism in plants and the specific induction of the safening process in these structures.

Technical Abstract: Glutathione S-transferase (GST; EC 2.5.1.18) gene expression was examined in the coleoptile and new leaf tissue of etiolated shoots of the diploid wheat species Triticum tauschii (Coss.) Schmal., which is considered to be a progenitor and the D genome donor to cultivated, hexaploid bread wheat Triticum aestivum L. GST expression (mRNA, protein, and enzyme activity with a herbicide substrate) in these shoot tissues was examined in response to herbicide safener treatment. Two different antibody probes, raised against the same safener-inducible GST protein (TtGSTU1) but differing in their specificity, were utilized to determine tissue distribution and subcellular localization of GST proteins, and herbicide-metabolizing activity were all highest in the coleoptile of etiolated, safener-treated Triticum tauschii shoots. Anti-GST immunolabeling was strongest in the outer epidermal and adjoining subepidermal cells in both coleoptiles and new leaves following safener treatment. Our data indicate that safeners protect grass crops from herbicide injury by dramatically inducing the expression of GST proteins in the outer cell layers of the coleoptile, which prevents the herbicide from reaching the sensitive new leaves of etiolated shoots as they emerge from the soil.