• Molecules and Cells
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• v.40 no.10
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• pp.697-705
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• 2017

The maintenance of inorganic phosphate (Pi) homeostasis is essential for plant growth and yield. Plants have evolved strategies to cope with Pi starvation at the transcriptional, post-transcriptional, and post-translational levels, which maximizes its availability. Many transcription factors, miRNAs, and transporters participate in the Pi starvation signaling pathway where their activities are modulated by sugar and phytohormone signaling. Environmental stresses significantly affect the uptake and utilization of nutrients by plants, but their effects on the Pi starvation response remain unclear. Recently, we reported that Pi starvation signaling is affected by abiotic stresses such as salt, abscisic acid, and drought. In this review, we identified transcription factors, such as MYB, WRKY, and zinc finger transcription factors with functions in Pi starvation and other environmental stress signaling. In silico analysis of the promoter regions of Pi starvation-responsive genes, including phosphate transporters, microRNAs, and phosphate starvation-induced genes, suggest that their expression may be regulated by other environmental stresses, such as hormones, drought, cold, heat, and pathogens as well as by Pi starvation. Thus, we suggest the possibility of cross-talk between Pi starvation signaling and other environmental stress signaling pathways.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.488-493
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• 2008

Phosphate, a favorable phosphorous form for plant, is one of major nutrient elements for growth and development in plants. Plants exhibit various physiological and biochemical responses in reaction to phosphate starvation in order to maintain phosphate homeostasis. Of them, expression of high affinity phosphate transporter gene family and efficient uptake of phosphate via them is a major physiological process for adaption to phosphate deficient environment. Although the various genetic resources of high affinity phosphate transporter are identified recently, little is known about their functions in plant that is prerequisite information before applying to crop plants to generate valuable transgenic plants. We demonstrated that Arabidopsis transgenic plants over-expressing two different high affinity phosphate transporter gens, OsPT1 and OsPT7, derived from rice, exhibit better growth responses compared with wild-type under phosphate starvation condition. Specially, OsPT7 gene has proven to be more effective to generate Arabidopsis transgenic plant tolerant to phosphate deficiency than OsPT1. Furthermore, the expression level of AtPT1 gene that is one of reporter genes specifically induced by phosphate starvation was significantly low compared with wild-type during phosphate starvation. Taken together, these results collectively suggest that over expression of OsPTl and OsPT7 genes derived from monocotyledonous plant function efficiently in the dicotyledonous plant, relieving stress response caused by phosphate starvation and leading to better growth rate.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.244-252
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• 2007

Escherichia coli has a PhoR-PhoB two-component regulatory system to detect and respond to the changes of environmental phosphate concentration. For the E. coli W3110 strain growing under phosphate-limiting condition, the changes of global gene expression levels were investigated by using DNA microarray analysis. The expression levels of some genes that are involved in phosphate metabolism were increased as phosphate became limited, whereas those of the genes involved in ribosomal protein or amino acid metabolism were decreased, owing to the stationary phase response. The upregulated genes could be divided into temporarily and permanently inducible genes by phosphate starvation. At the peak point showing the highest expression levels of the phoB and phoR genes under phosphate-limiting condition, the phoB- and/or phoR-dependent regulatory mechanisms were investigated in detail by comparing the gene expression levels among the wild-type and phoB and/or phoR mutant strains. Overall, the phoB mutation was epistatic over the phoR mutation. It was found that PhoBR and PhoB were responsible for the upregulation of the phosphonate or glycerol phosphate metabolism and high-affinity phosphate transport system, respectively. These results show the complex regulation by the PhoR-PhoB two-component regulatory system in E. coli.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.44-52
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• 2016

Plants response to phosphate starvation include the changes of activity of some enzymes, such as phosphatases, fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase, sucrose-phosphate synthase and nitrate reductase. In this study, to determine the effects of phosphate starvation on the change of activities of acid and alkaline phosphatase, fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase, sucrose-phosphate synthase, and nitrate reductase were studied in melon seedlings (Cucumis melo L.). The content of the protein and chlorophyll tended to relatively reduced in melon seedlings subjected to phosphate starvation. Acid phosphatase activity in first and second leaves of melon seedlings was relatively higher than that of third and fourth leaves of seedlings in 14 days after phosphate starvation treatment, respectively. Active native-PAGE band patterns of acid phosphatase in melon leaves showed similar to activities of acid phosphatase, whereas alkaline phosphatase activity was different from the change in the activity of acid phosphatase. Inorganic phosphate content in melon seedlings leaves was constant. The changes of Fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase and sucrose phosphate synthase activities showed similar patterns in melon seedlings leaves, and between these enzymes activities and phosphate nutrition negatively related. Fructose-1,6- bisphosphatase and sucrose phosphate synthase activities showed significant difference in second and fourth leaves, but nitrate reductase showed significant difference in first and second leaves in 14days after phosphate starvation treatment. We concluded that phosphate nutrition could affect the distribution of phosphate, carbon and nitrogen in melon seedlings.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.174-174
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• 2017

To cope with phosphate (Pi) deficient stress, plants modulate various physiological and developmental processes, such as gene expression, Pi uptake and translocation, and root architecture changes. Here, we report the identification and characterization of novel activation-tagged mutant involved in Pi starvation signaling in Arabidopsis. The hpd (${\underline{h}ypersensitive}$ to ${\underline{P}i}$ $ {\underline{d}eficiency}$) mutant exhibits enhanced phosphate uptake and altered root architectural change under Pi starvation compared to wild type. Expression analysis of auxin-responsive DR5::GUS reporter gene in hpd mutant indicated that auxin translocation in roots under Pi starvation are suppressed in hpd mutant plants. Impaired auxin translocation in roots of hpd mutant was attributable to abnormal root architecture changes in Pi starvation conditions. Our results indicated that abnormal auxin translocation in hpd mutant might be due to mis-regulation of auxin efflux carrier proteins, PIN-FORMED (PIN) 1, and 2 under Pi starvation conditions. Not only expression levels but also expression domains of PIN proteins were altered in hpd mutant in response to Pi starvation. Molecular genetic analysis of hpd mutant revealed that the mutant phenotype is caused by the lesion in ENHANCED SILENCING PHENOTYPE4 (ESP4) gene whose function is proposed in mRNA 3'-end processing. The results suggest that mRNA processing plays crucial roles in Pi homeostasis as well as developmental reprograming in response to Pi deprivation in Arabidopsis.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.141-147
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• 1999

Thirteen transcriptionally-fused carbon starvation mutants, derived from Pseudomonas putida ATCC 12633, were analyzed for their survivability and transcriptional induction profiles upon carbon starvation. One of these mutants, MK114, which exhibited the lowest survivability and the highest induction rate, was selected and further examined under different starvation (nitrogen and phosphate) and stress (osmolarity, H2O2, salts, alcohol, and heat) conditions. Under all tested conditions MK114 induced ${\beta}$-galactosidase activity, implying that the interrupted gene (cst114) is a general starvation and stress response gene. The rate of induction ranged from 2.6-fold for phosphate starvation to 3.7-fold for osmotic shock. The mini-Tn5 flanking DNA was cloned from the chromosome of MK114. The cloned DNA fragment exhibited carbon starvation activity, indicating that this fragment contains a carbon starvation-related promoter region. This region was partially sequenced. Possible physiological roles of Cst114 in a carbon sensing mechanism and in other stress responses are also discussed.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.587-588
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• 2005

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.797-798
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• 2005

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.305-312
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• 2007

This study focused on the involvement of the unusual nucleotide (p)ppGpp, a stringent factor, during the morphological and physiological differentiation of Streptomyces coelicolor. Two genes, relA and rshA, were disrupted to demonstrate the roles of the stringent factor in the differentiation. The intracellular concentration of (p)ppGpp in the wild-type (M600) and disrupted mutants was measured in relation to the intentional starvation of a specific nutrient, such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphate or the in situ depletion of nutrients in a batch culture. As a result, it was found that the morphological characteristic of the ${\Delta}relA$ mutant was a bld phenotype forming condensed mycelia, whereas the ${\Delta}rshA$ mutant grew fast-forming spores and straightforward mycelia. In both mutants, the production of actinorhodin (Act) was completely abolished, yet the undecylprodigiosin (Red) production was increased. Intracellular (p)ppGpp was detected in the ${\Delta}relA$ mutant in the case of limited phosphate, yet not with limited carbon or nitrogen sources. In contrast, (p)ppGpp was produced in the ${\Delta}rshA$ mutant under limited carbon and nitrogen conditions. Therefore, (p)ppGpp in S. coelicolor was found to be selectively regulated by either the RelA or RshA protein, which was differentially expressed in response to the specific nutrient limitation. These results were also supported by the in situ ppGpp production during a batch culture. Furthermore, it is suggested that RelA and RshA are bifunctional proteins that possess the ability to both synthesize and hydrolyze (p)ppGpp.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.111-118
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• 2016

MiR399f plays a crucial role in maintaining phosphate homeostasis in Arabidopsis thaliana. Under phosphate starvation conditions, AtMYB2, which plays a role in plant salt and drought stress responses, directly regulates the expression of miR399f. In this study, we found that miR399f also participates in plant responses to abscisic acid (ABA), and to abiotic stresses including salt and drought. Salt and ABA treatment induced the expression of miR399f, as confirmed by histochemical analysis of promoter-GUS fusions. Transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing miR399f (miR399f-OE) exhibited enhanced tolerance to salt stress and exogenous ABA, but hypersensitivity to drought. Our in silico analysis identified ABF3 and CSP41b as putative target genes of miR399f, and expression analysis revealed that mRNA levels of ABF3 and CSP41b decreased remarkably in miR399f-OE plants under salt stress and in response to treatment with ABA. Moreover, we showed that activation of stress-responsive gene expression in response to salt stress and ABA treatment was impaired in miR399f-OE plants. Thus, these results suggested that in addition to phosphate starvation signaling, miR399f might also modulates plant responses to salt, ABA, and drought, by regulating the expression of newly discovered target genes such as ABF3 and CSP41b.