Cesium Toxicity Alters MicroRNA Processing and AGO1 Expressions in Arabidopsis thaliana

PLoS One. 2015 May 6;10(5):e0125514. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0125514. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short RNA fragments that play important roles in controlled gene silencing, thus regulating many biological processes in plants. Recent studies have indicated that plants modulate miRNAs to sustain their survival in response to a variety of environmental stimuli, such as biotic stresses, cold, drought, nutritional starvation, and toxic heavy metals. Cesium and radio-cesium contaminations have arisen as serious problems that both impede plant growth and enter the food chain through contaminated plants. Many studies have been performed to define plant responses against cesium intoxication. However, the complete profile of miRNAs in plants during cesium intoxication has not been established. Here we show the differential expression of the miRNAs that are mostly down-regulated during cesium intoxication. Furthermore, we found that cesium toxicity disrupts both the processing of pri-miRNAs and AGONOUTE 1 (AGO1)-mediated gene silencing. AGO 1 seems to be especially destabilized by cesium toxicity, possibly through a proteolytic regulatory pathway. Our study presents a comprehensive profile of cesium-responsive miRNAs, which is distinct from that of potassium, and suggests two possible mechanisms underlying the cesium toxicity on miRNA metabolism.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Arabidopsis / genetics
  • Arabidopsis / growth & development*
  • Arabidopsis / metabolism
  • Arabidopsis Proteins / biosynthesis*
  • Arabidopsis Proteins / genetics
  • Argonaute Proteins / biosynthesis*
  • Argonaute Proteins / genetics
  • Cesium / toxicity*
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Plant
  • MicroRNAs / genetics*
  • Plant Roots / growth & development
  • Potassium / toxicity*

Substances

  • AGO1 protein, Arabidopsis
  • Arabidopsis Proteins
  • Argonaute Proteins
  • MicroRNAs
  • Cesium
  • Potassium

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Center for Synthetic Biology, funded by the UNIK research initiative of the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (Grant 09-065274) and was supported by funds from the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (Grant 698241-14). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.