A01：How selenium can be essential/beneficial and toxic in higher plants
Akiko MARUYAMA-NAKASHITA
（Graduate School of Bioresource and Bioenvironmental Sciences, Kyushu University）
Lab website
Selenium is known as the essential element in most organisms including microorganisms, animals, and algae. In high concentrations, it can be a harmful element as well. However, the essentiality of selenium to higher plants has not been proved yet. Selenium is a family element of sulfur, one of the essential macro elements for all organisms. In the environment, selenium mostly exists as selenate (SeO42-). Because of the structural similarity between selenate and sulfate, selenite is acquired by plants through the function of sulfate transporters and assimilated into organic compounds through sulfur assimilatory pathway. In Arabidopsis thaliana, a widely used model plant, there are 3 sulfate transporters that facilitate sulfate uptake from roots. Thereby the Arabidopsis plants impaired with these transporters cannot take up both sulfate and selenate from roots. In this study, we will examine the growth phenotypes and metabolism in the deprivation lines of sulfate transporters and get novel insight to the essentiality/beneficiality of selenium as well as the molecular mechanism of its toxic effects. The research outcome can lead to new methods of phytoremediation and biofortification using plants.
Major publications
L. Zhang, R. Kawaguchi, T. Morikawa-Ichinose, A. Allahham, S.-J. Kim, A. Maruyama-Nakashita
“Sulfur deficiency-induced glucosinolate catabolism attributed to two ß-glucosidases, BGLU28 and BGLU30, is required for plant growth maintenance under sulfur deficiency. Plant Cell Physiol. 2020, 61, 803-813
doi: 10.1093/pcp/pcaa006
C. Yamaguchi, Y. Takimoto, N. Ohkama-Ohtsu, A. Hokura, T. Shinano, T. Nakamura, A. Suyama, A. Maruyama-Nakashita
“Effects of Cadmium Treatment on the Uptake and Translocation of Sulfate in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Cell Physiol. 2016, 57, 2353-2366
doi: 10.1093/pcp/pcw156
F. Aarabi, M. Kusajima, T. Tohge, T. Konishi, T. Gigolashvili, M. Takamune, Y. Sasazaki, M. Watanabe, H. Nakashita, A.R. Fernie, K. Saito, H. Takahashi, H.-M. Hubberten, R. Hoefgen, A. Maruyama-Nakashita
“Sulfur-deficiency-induced repressor proteins optimize glucosinolate biosynthesis in plants. Sci. Advances 2016, 2, e1601087
doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1601087
A. Maruyama-Nakashita, A. Watanabe-Takahashi, E. Inoue, T. Yamaya, K. Saito, H. Takahashi
“Sulfur-responsive elements in the 3’-non-transcribed intergenic region are essential for the induction of Sulfate Transporter 2;1 gene expression in Arabidopsis roots under sulfur deficiency. Plant Cell 2015, 27, 1279-1296
doi: 10.1105/tpc.114.134908
A. Maruyama-Nakashita, Y. Nakamura, T. Tohge, K. Saito, H. Takahashi
“Arabidopsis SLIM1 is a central transcriptional regulator of plant sulfur response and metabolism. Plant Cell 2006, 18, 3235-3251
doi: 10.1105/tpc.106.046458