Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:2.7.10.2 (focal adhesion kinase)
 44,029 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The location of the FER protein within the cell was investigated by using subcellular fractionation and immunofluorescence. FER was found in the cytoplasm and in the nucleus, where it was associated with the chromatin fraction. Its ubiquitous expression and its subcellular location indicate that it may be involved in key regulatory processes.
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PMID:Nuclear and cytoplasmic location of the FER tyrosine kinase. 199 Feb 74

Root iron mobilization genes are induced by iron deficiency downstream of an unknown signaling mechanism. The FER gene, encoding a basic helix-loop-helix domain protein and putative transcription factor, is required for induction of iron mobilization genes in roots of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum). To study upstream regulatory events of FER action, we examined the control of FER gene and FER protein expression in response to iron nutritional status. We analyzed expression of the FER gene and FER protein in wild-type plants, in mutant plants with defects in iron uptake regulation, and in 35S transgenic plants that overexpressed the FER gene. An affinity-purified antiserum directed against FER epitopes was produced that recognized FER protein in plant protein extracts. We found that the FER gene and FER protein were consistently down-regulated in roots after generous (100 mum, physiologically optimal) iron supply compared to low (0.1 mum) and sufficient (10 mum) iron supply. FER gene and FER protein expression were also occasionally down-regulated at sufficient compared to low iron supply. Analysis of FER protein expression in FER overexpression plants, as well as cellular protein localization studies, indicated that FER was down-regulated by high iron at the posttranscriptional level. The FER protein was targeted to plant nuclei and showed transcriptional activation in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). FER protein regulation in the iron accumulation mutant chloronerva indicated that FER protein expression was not directly controlled by signals derived from iron transport. We conclude that FER is able to affect transcription in the nucleus and its action is controlled by iron supply at multiple regulatory levels.
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PMID:Iron-mediated control of the basic helix-loop-helix protein FER, a regulator of iron uptake in tomato. 1569 40

AtbHLH29 of Arabidopsis, encoding a bHLH protein, reveals a high similarity to the tomato FER which is proposed as a transcriptional regulator involved in controlling the iron deficiency responses and the iron uptake in tomato. For identification of its biological functions, AtbHLH29 was introduced into the genome of the tomato FER mutant T3238fer mediated by Agrobacterium tumefaciencs. Transgenic plants were regenerated and the stable integration of AtbHLH29 into their genomes was confirmed by Southern hybridization. Molecular analysis demonstrated that expression of the exogenous AtbHLH29 of Arabidopsis in roots of the FER mutant T3238fer enabled to complement the defect functions of FER. The transgenic plants regained the ability to activate the whole iron deficiency responses and showed normal growth as the wild type under iron-limiting stress. Our transformation data demonstrate that AtbHLH29 is a functional ortholog of the tomato FER and can completely replace FER in controlling the effective iron acquisition in tomato. Except of iron, FER protein was directly or indirectly involved in manganese homeostasis due to that loss functions of FER in T3238fer resulted in strong reduction of Mn content in leaves and the defect function on Mn accumulation in leaves was complemented by expression of AtbHLH29 in the transgenic plants. Identification of the similar biological functions of FER and AtbHLH29, which isolated from two systematically wide-diverged "strategy I" plants, suggests that FER might be a universal gene presented in all strategy I plants in controlling effective iron acquisition system in roots.
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PMID:AtbHLH29 of Arabidopsis thaliana is a functional ortholog of tomato FER involved in controlling iron acquisition in strategy I plants. 1611 51

In this work, we investigated the effects of pH and nitrogen forms on iron homeostasis and the expression profiles of genes involved in iron uptake and metabolism using tomato cultivar T3238 and its iron-inefficient mutant T3238fer. We showed that high external pH led to increased expression of four iron uptake genes (LeIRT1, LeIRT2, LeFRO1, LeNRAMP1) regardless of the nitrogen sources. Interestingly, the transcript level of FER was decreased at high pH and increased at low pH. In iron-inefficient mutant T3238fer, the expression of LeFRO1, LeIRT1 and LeNRAMP1 was much less than wild type under the culture conditions with high pH and on the non-buffered agar medium with NO(3) (-) as the sole N source, demonstrating that FER protein is required for the increased expression of LeFRO1, LeIRT1 and LeNRAMP1 under culture conditions with high pH. Considering the paradoxical expression patterns of FER to LeFRO1, LeIRT1 and LeNRAMP1 in T3238, we speculate that FER is essential, but is not the limited factor for the transcriptional regulation of the three iron uptake genes. In conclusion, the alteration of rhizosphere pH by assimilating NO(3) (-) or NH(4) (+) influenced Fe availability and consequently affected iron homeostasis in tomato. The enhanced expression of LeFRO1, LeIRT1 and LeNRAMP1 under the culture condition with high pH or on agar media with NO(3) (-) as the sole N source might be a consequence of reduced iron availability in the solution or agar medium at high pH.
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PMID:Effects of pH and nitrogen forms on expression profiles of genes involved in iron homeostasis in tomato. 1732 37

In flowering plants, signaling between the male pollen tube and the synergid cells of the female gametophyte is required for fertilization. In the Arabidopsis thaliana mutant feronia (fer), fertilization is impaired; the pollen tube fails to arrest and thus continues to grow inside the female gametophyte. FER encodes a synergid-expressed, plasma membrane-localized receptor-like kinase. We found that the FER protein accumulates asymmetrically in the synergid membrane at the filiform apparatus. Interspecific crosses using pollen from Arabidopsis lyrata and Cardamine flexuosa on A. thaliana stigmas resulted in a fer-like phenotype that correlates with sequence divergence in the extracellular domain of FER. Our findings show that the female control of pollen tube reception is based on a FER-dependent signaling pathway, which may play a role in reproductive isolation barriers.
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PMID:The FERONIA receptor-like kinase mediates male-female interactions during pollen tube reception. 1767 44

Iron is an essential and commonly limited nutrient for plants. To increase the uptake of iron during times of low iron supply, plants, except the grasses, activate a set of physiological and morphological responses in their roots that include iron reduction, soil acidification, Fe(II) transport and proliferation of root hairs. It is not known how root cells sense and transduce the changes that occur after the onset of iron deficiency. This work presents evidence that nitric oxide (NO) is produced rapidly in the root epidermis of tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum) that are grown in iron-deficient conditions. The scavenging of NO prevented iron-deficiency-induced upregulation of the basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor FER, the ferric-chelate reductase LeFRO1 and the Fe(II) transporter LeIRT1 genes. On the other hand, exogenous application of the NO donor S-nitrosoglutathione enhanced the accumulation of FER, LeFRO1 and LeIRT1 mRNA in roots of iron-deficient plants. The activity of the root ferric-chelate reductase and the proliferation of root hairs induced by iron deficiency were stimulated by NO supplementation and suppressed by NO scavenging. Nitric oxide was ineffective in inducing iron-deficiency responses in the tomato fer mutant, which indicates that the FER protein is necessary to mediate the action of NO. Furthermore, NO supplementation improved plant growth under low iron supply, which suggests that NO is a key component of the regulatory mechanisms that control iron uptake and homeostasis in plants. In summary, the results of this investigation indicate that an increase in NO production is an early response of roots to iron deprivation that contributes to the improvement of iron availability by (i) modulating the expression of iron uptake-related genes and (ii) regulating the physiological and morphological adaptive responses of roots to iron-deficient conditions.
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PMID:Nitric oxide accumulation is required for molecular and physiological responses to iron deficiency in tomato roots. 1789 45