Plasma membrane aquaporins mediates vesicle stability in broccoli

PLoS One. 2018 Feb 8;13(2):e0192422. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0192422. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

The use of in vitro membrane vesicles is attractive because of possible applications in therapies. Here we aimed to compare the stability and functionality of plasma membrane vesicles extracted from control and salt-treated broccoli. The impact of the amount of aquaporins was related to plasma membrane osmotic water permeability and the stability of protein secondary structure. Here, we describe for first time an increase in plant aquaporins acetylation under high salinity. Higher osmotic water permeability in NaCl vesicles has been related to higher acetylation, upregulation of aquaporins, and a more stable environment to thermal denaturation. Based on our findings, we propose that aquaporins play an important role in vesicle stability.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aquaporins / chemistry
  • Aquaporins / metabolism
  • Aquaporins / physiology*
  • Brassica / physiology*
  • Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel
  • Membrane Proteins / chemistry
  • Membrane Proteins / metabolism
  • Membrane Proteins / physiology*
  • Osmosis
  • Protein Conformation
  • Sodium Chloride / metabolism
  • Spectrophotometry, Infrared

Substances

  • Aquaporins
  • Membrane Proteins
  • Sodium Chloride

Grants and funding

This work was funded by Spanish Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (grant no. AGL2016-80247-C2-1-R to MC). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.