Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T12:37:23.909Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Genomic and proteomic analyses of plant response to radiation in the environment – an abiotic stress context

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2009

N. J. Willey*
Affiliation:
Centre for Research in Plant Science, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, University of the West of England, Coldharbour Lane, Frenchay, Bristol BS16 1QY, UK
Y.-J. Heinekamp
Affiliation:
Centre for Research in Plant Science, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, University of the West of England, Coldharbour Lane, Frenchay, Bristol BS16 1QY, UK
A. Burridge
Affiliation:
Centre for Research in Plant Science, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, University of the West of England, Coldharbour Lane, Frenchay, Bristol BS16 1QY, UK
Get access

Abstract

Genomic and proteomic techniques provide the opportunity to investigate plant response to ionising radiation in unprecedented detail. Understanding plant molecular responses to ionising radiation might be useful for radioprotection but also for understanding plant stress responses. This is because radioactivity was a primordial stressor to cells and many stress responses are highly conserved through evolution. DNA microarrays for Arabidopsis plants exposed to 40 µGy h-1 through a hydroponic solution revealed that, after 14 days, there are changes in gene expression primarily in roots. The genes that change are not associated with DNA repair, and correlations with responses to other stressors in public databases suggest that there are elements of plant stress response being activated. The number of genes and their fold changes are lower than those reported for many other stressors but have particular overlaps with oxidative stress responses. Proteomic analyses form similar experiments are ongoing but similarly show no change of abundance in proteins associated with DNA repair and more changes in roots than shoots at these exposures.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Karam P.A. and Leslie S.A. (1999). Calculations of background β-γ radiation dose through geologic time. Health Physics. 77, 662–667.
Karam P.A. (2003) Inconstant sun: How solar evolution has affected cosmic and ultraviolet radiation exposure over the history of life on Earth. Health Physics 84, 322–333.
Kultz D. (2005) Molecular and evolutionary basis of the cellular stress response. Annual Review of Physiology. 67, 225–257.
Arteca R.N. and Arteca J.M. (2000) A novel method for growing Arabidopsis thaliana plants hydroponically. Physiologia Plantarum 108, 188–93.
Tusher V.G., Tibshirani R. and Chu G. (2001) Significance analysis of microarrays applied to the ionising radiation response. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on the USA 98, 5116–5121.