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tRNA-Related Sequences Trigger Systemic mRNA Transport in Plants
Wenna Zhang1, Christoph J Thieme1, Gregor Kollwig2
1Max Planck Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Wissenschaftspark Golm, Golm, Germany.
The Plant Cell
|June 9, 2016
Summary
Plant messenger RNAs (mRNAs) with tRNA-like structures (TLSs) can move to distant tissues and be translated into proteins. These TLSs are essential for the mobility of many endogenous plant transcripts.
Area of Science:
- Plant molecular biology
- Plant physiology
- RNA biology
Background:
- Protein-coding mRNAs can move through plant phloem vasculature, acting as signals in distant tissues.
- While many mobile mRNAs are known, the RNA motifs controlling mobility and post-transport translation remain unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate RNA motifs that trigger mRNA mobility in plants.
- To determine the extent of mRNA transport and the potential for translation after transport.
- To identify specific RNA structures mediating phloem transport.
Main Methods:
- Constructed reporter transcripts with tRNA-like structures (TLSs).
- Utilized chimeric grafting in plants to study mRNA movement between tissues.
- Performed phenotypic and enzymatic assays to confirm protein production after transport.
Main Results:
- Reporter transcripts with TLSs were enriched in the phloem and moved across graft junctions.
- mRNAs with TLSs successfully transported from transgenic roots to wild-type leaves and vice versa.
- Transported mRNAs were translated into functional proteins in recipient tissues.
- Dicistronic mRNA:tRNA transcripts were identified and enriched in mobile mRNA populations in Arabidopsis thaliana.
Conclusions:
- tRNA-derived sequences with stem-bulge-stem-loop structures are sufficient to mediate mRNA transport.
- These structures appear necessary for the mobility of numerous endogenous graft-mobile mRNAs.
- mRNA transport and subsequent translation are crucial mechanisms for systemic signaling in plants.
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