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Cell-wall fucosylation in Arabidopsis influences control of leaf water loss and alters stomatal development and mechanical properties

Panter, Paige E; Seifert, Jacob; Dale, Maeve; Pridgeon, Ashley J; Hulme, Rachel; Ramsay, Nathan; Contera, Sonia; Knight, Heather

Cell-wall fucosylation in Arabidopsis influences control of leaf water loss and alters stomatal development and mechanical properties Thumbnail


Authors

Paige E Panter

Jacob Seifert

Maeve Dale

Ashley J Pridgeon

Rachel Hulme

Nathan Ramsay nathan.ramsay@durham.ac.uk
PGR Student Doctor of Philosophy

Sonia Contera



Abstract

The Arabidopsis sensitive-to-freezing8 (sfr8) mutant exhibits reduced cell-wall (CW) fucose levels and compromised freezing tolerance. To examine whether CW fucosylation affects the response to desiccation also, we tested the effect of leaf excision in sfr8 and the allelic mutant mur1-1. Leaf water loss was strikingly higher than wild type in these, but not other, fucosylation mutants. We hypothesised that reduced fucosylation in guard cell (GC) walls might limit stomatal closure through altering mechanical properties. Multifrequency atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements revealed a reduced elastic modulus (E’), representing reduced stiffness, in sfr8 GC walls. Interestingly, however, we discovered a compensatory mechanism whereby a concomitant reduction in the storage modulus (E’’) maintained a wild type viscoelastic time response (tau) in sfr8. Stomata in intact leaf discs of sfr8 responded normally to a closure stimulus, ABA, suggesting the time response may relate more to closure properties than stiffness does. sfr8 stomatal pore complexes were larger than wild type and GCs lacked a fully developed cuticular ledge, both potential contributors to the greater leaf water loss in sfr8. We present data that indicate fucosylation-dependent dimerisation of the CW pectic domain rhamnogalacturonan-II may be essential for normal cuticular ledge development and leaf water retention.

Citation

Panter, P. E., Seifert, J., Dale, M., Pridgeon, A. J., Hulme, R., Ramsay, N., Contera, S., & Knight, H. (2023). Cell-wall fucosylation in Arabidopsis influences control of leaf water loss and alters stomatal development and mechanical properties. Journal of Experimental Botany, 74(8), 2680-2691. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erad039

Journal Article Type Article
Online Publication Date Feb 21, 2023
Publication Date Apr 18, 2023
Deposit Date Feb 3, 2023
Publicly Available Date May 30, 2023
Journal Journal of Experimental Botany
Print ISSN 0022-0957
Electronic ISSN 1460-2431
Publisher Oxford University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 74
Issue 8
Pages 2680-2691
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erad039
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1183813

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Accepted Journal Article (7.4 Mb)
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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.







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