1. Study on vulcanization characterastics and composit properties of AEM/ACM within HMDC vulcanization systemXingbing Yang, Qian Wu, Wei Li, Xue Fu, Tingting Zhang, Qin Zhang, 2025, original scientific article Keywords: carboxylate acrylic rubber, vulcanization characteristics, activation energy, vulcanizing agent, ethylene acrylate rubber Published in DiRROS: 24.04.2025; Views: 1008; Downloads: 515
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2. Ethylene signaling is essential for mycorrhiza-induced resistance against chewing herbivores in tomatoJavier Lidoy, Javier Rivero, Živa Ramšak, Marko Petek, Maja Križnik, Victor Flors, Juan A Lopez-Raez, Ainhoa Martinez-Medina, Kristina Gruden, Maria J Pozo, 2025, original scientific article Abstract: Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis can prime plant defenses, leading to mycorrhiza-induced resistance (MIR) against different attackers, including insect herbivores. Still, our knowledge of the complex molecular regulation leading to MIR is very limited. Here, we showed that the AM fungus Funneliformis mosseae protects tomato plants against two different chewing herbivores, Spodoptera exigua and Manduca sexta. We explored the underlying molecular mechanism through genome-wide transcriptional profiling, bioinformatics network analyses, and functional bioassays. Herbivore-triggered jasmonate (JA)-regulated defenses were primed in leaves of mycorrhizal plants. Likewise, ethylene (ET) biosynthesis and signaling were also higher in leaves of mycorrhizal plants both before and after herbivory. We hypothesized that fine-tuned ET signaling is required for the primed defense response leading to MIR. ET is a complex regulator of plant responses to stress and is generally considered a negative regulator of plant defenses against herbivory. However, ET-deficient or insensitive lines did not show AM-primed JA biosynthesis or defense response, and were unable to develop MIR against any of the herbivores. Thus, we demonstrate that hormone crosstalk is central to the priming of plant immunity by beneficial microbes, with ET fine-tuning being essential for the primed JA biosynthesis and boosted defenses leading to MIR in tomato. Keywords: chewing herbivores, defense priming, ethylene, hormonal crosstalk, jasmonate, mycorrhiza-induced resistance (MIR) Published in DiRROS: 10.04.2025; Views: 1186; Downloads: 1148
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3. Chloroplast vesiculation and induced chloroplast vesiculation and senescence-associated gene 12 expression during tomato flower pedicel abscissionMagda Tušek-Žnidarič, Maja Zagorščak, Živa Ramšak, Katja Stare, Marko Chersicola, Maruša Pompe Novak, Aleš Kladnik, Marina Dermastia, 2025, original scientific article Abstract: Abscission is a tightly regulated process in which plants shed unnecessary, infected, damaged, or aging organs, as well as ripe fruits, through predetermined abscission zones in response to developmental, hormonal, and environmental signals. Despite its importance, the underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood. This study highlights the deleterious effects of abscission on chloroplast ultrastructure in the cells of the tomato flower pedicel abscission zone, revealing spatiotemporal differential gene expression and key transcriptional networks involved in chloroplast vesiculation during abscission. Significant changes in chloroplast structure and vesicle formation were observed 8 and 14 h after abscission induction, coinciding with the differential expression of vesiculation-related genes, particularly with upregulation of Senescence-Associated Gene 12 (SAG12) and Chloroplast Vesiculation (CV). This suggests a possible vesicle transport of chloroplast degrading material for recycling by autophagy-independent senescence-associated vacuoles (SAVs) and CV-containing vesicles (CCVs). Ethylene signaling appears to be involved in the regulation of these processes, as treatment with a competitive inhibitor of ethylene action, 1-methylcyclopropene, delayed vesiculation, reduced the expression of SAG12, and increased expression of Curvature Thylakoid 1A (CURT1A). In addition, chloroplast vesiculation during abscission was associated with differential expression of photosynthesis-related genes, particularly those involved in light reactions, underscoring the possible functional impact of the observed structural changes. This work provides new insights into the molecular and ultrastructural mechanisms underlying abscission and offers potential new targets for agricultural or biotechnological applications. Keywords: abscission, chloroplast vesiculation, CURT1A, CV-containing vesicle, senescence-associated vacuole, ethylene, gene expression, tomato flower pedicel Published in DiRROS: 10.01.2025; Views: 1387; Downloads: 923
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4. The StPti5 ethylene response factor acts as a susceptibility factorby negatively regulating the potato immune responseto pathogensAnna Coll Rius, Tjaša Lukan, Katja Stare, Maja Zagorščak, Tjaša Mahkovec Povalej, Špela Baebler, Salomé Prat, Núria Sánchez Coll, Marc Valls, Marko Petek, Kristina Gruden, 2024, original scientific article Abstract: Ethylene response factors (ERFs) have been associated with biotic stress in Arabidopsis, while their function in non-model plants is still poorly understood. Here we investigated the role of potato ERF StPti5 in plant immunity.
We show that StPti5 acts as a susceptibility factor. It negatively regulates potato immunity against potato virus Y and Ralstonia solanacearum, pathogens with completely different modes of action, and thereby has a different role than its orthologue in tomato. Remarkably, StPti5 is destabilised in healthy plants via the autophagy pathway and accumulates exclusively in the nucleus upon infection. We demonstrate that StEIN3 and StEIL1 directly bind the StPti5 promoter and activate its expression, while synergistic activity of the ethylene and salicylic acid pathways is required for regulated StPti expression.
To gain further insight into the mode of StPti5 action in attenuating potato defence responses, we investigated transcriptional changes in salicylic acid deficient potato lines with silenced StPti5 expression. We show that StPti5 regulates the expression of other ERFs and downregulates the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway as well as several proteases involved in directed proteolysis.
This study adds a novel element to the complex puzzle of immune regulation, by deciphering a two-level regulation of ERF transcription factor activity in response to pathogens. Keywords: ethylene response factor, immune signalling, potato virus Y, Pti5, Ralstonia solanacearum, Solanum tuberosum, susceptibility factor Published in DiRROS: 29.08.2024; Views: 1522; Downloads: 1399
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5. Organelles and phytohormones : a network of interactions in plant stress responsesAndras Bittner, Agata Cieśla, Kristina Gruden, Tjaša Lukan, Sakil Mahmud, Markus Teige, Ute Vothknecht, Bernhard Wurzinger, 2022, review article Abstract: Phytohormones are major signaling components that contribute to nearly all aspects of plant life. They constitute an interconnected communication network to fine-tune growth and development in response to the ever-changing environment. To this end, they have to coordinate with other signaling components, such as reactive oxygen species and calcium signals. On the one hand, the two endosymbiotic organelles, plastids and mitochondria, control various aspects of phytohormone signaling and harbor important steps of hormone precursor biosynthesis. On the other hand, phytohormones have feedback actions on organellar functions. In addition, organelles and phytohormones often act in parallel in a coordinated matter to regulate cellular functions. Therefore, linking organelle functions with increasing knowledge of phytohormone biosynthesis, perception, and signaling will reveal new aspects of plant stress tolerance. In this review, we highlight recent work on organelle–phytohormone interactions focusing on the major stress-related hormones abscisic acid, jasmonates, salicylic acid, and ethylene. Keywords: abscisic acid (ABA), chloroplast, ethylene, mitochondria, jasmonates, plant organelles, phytohormones, salicylic acid (SA), plastids, stress signaling, retrograde signaling Published in DiRROS: 05.08.2024; Views: 1542; Downloads: 1019
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6. 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate oxidase induction in tomato flower pedicel phloem and abscission related processes are differentially sensitive to ethyleneMarko Chersicola, Aleš Kladnik, Magda Tušek-Žnidarič, Tanja Mrak, Kristina Gruden, Marina Dermastia, 2017, original scientific article Abstract: Ethylene has impact on several physiological plant processes, including abscission, during which plants shed both their vegetative and reproductive organs. Cell separation and programmed cell death are involved in abscission, and these have also been correlated with ethylene action. However, the detailed spatiotemporal pattern of the molecular events during abscission remains unknown. We examined the expression of two tomato ACO genes, LeACO1, and LeACO4 that encode the last enzyme in ethylene biosynthesis, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate oxidase (ACO), together with the expression of other abscission-associated genes involved in cell separation and programmed cell death, during a period of 0–12 h after abscission induction in the tomato flower pedicel abscission zone and nearby tissues. In addition, we determined their localization in specific cell layers of the flower pedicel abscission zone and nearby tissues obtained by laser microdissection before and 8 h after abscission induction. The expression of both ACO genes was localized to the vascular tissues in the pedicel. While LeACO4 was more uniformly expressed in all examined cell layers, the main expression site of LeACO1 was in cell layers just outside the abscission zone in its proximal and distal part. We showed that after abscission induction, ACO1 protein was synthesized in phloem companion cells, in which it was localized mainly in the cytoplasm. Samples were additionally treated with 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP), a competitive inhibitor of ethylene actions, and analyzed 8 h after abscission induction. Cell-layer-specific changes in gene expression were observed together with the specific localization and ethylene sensitivity of the hallmarks of cell separation and programmed cell death. While treatment with 1-MCP prevented separation of cells through inhibition of the expression of polygalacturonases, which are the key enzymes involved in degradation of the middle lamella, this had less impact on the occurrence of different kinds of membrane vesicles and abscission-related programmed cell death. In the flower pedicel abscission zone, the physical progressions of cell separation and programmed cell death are perpendicular to each other and start in the vascular tissues. Keywords: abscission, ACO, cell separation, ethylene, laser microdissection, programmed cell death, tomato, ultrastructure Published in DiRROS: 24.07.2024; Views: 1332; Downloads: 1199
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7. The pattern of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate oxidase induction in the tomato leaf petiole abscission zone is independent of expression of the ribonuclease-LX-encoding LeLX geneMarko Chersicola, Aleš Kladnik, Magda Tušek-Žnidarič, Amnon Lers, Marina Dermastia, 2018, original scientific article Abstract: The abscission of tomato leaves occurs in the petiole abscission zone, and its late stage includes two spatially divided processes: cell separation and programmed cell death (PCD). Both of these processes are regulated by ethylene. The last step in ethylene biosynthesis is conversion of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid to ethylene, which is catalysed by the enzyme 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate oxidase (ACO); however, the location of ACO in the leaf petiole abscission zone is not known. The tomato gene LeLX encodes ribonuclease LX, which is a marker for PCD and is induced by ethylene during abscission, but its association with ACO has not been explored.
In a tomato transgenic line 1-7 with inhibited expression of LeLX showing delayed leaf abscission, the morphology and ultrastructure of the leaf petiole abscission zone was examined. In this zone of the cv.’VF36’ and of a transgenic line 1-7, spatiotemporal differences in expression of LeACO1 and LeACO4 were analysed and ACO protein was detected immunohistochemically.
In comparison to wild-type plants, there were no obvious morphological and ultrastructural features in the abscission zone of plants of a transgenic line 1-7 before and after abscission induction. LeACO1 expression was low before abscission induction, and increased 24 h after induction, although with no apparent spatial pattern. In contrast, LeACO4 was expressed before abscission induction, and its transcript level declined 24 h after induction on the distal side of the abscission zone fracture. In the LeLX-inhibited transgenic line, there were no significant differences in LeACO1 and LeACO4 expression in the petiole abscission zone, in comparison to wild-type plants. In addition, the ACO protein was immunolocalised to the vascular tissues that traverse the petiole abscission zone in plants of wild type and of a transgenic line 1-7; and additionally in the plane of future abscission zone fracture of transgenic-line plants.
The results suggest temporal differential expression of the LeACO genes in tomato leaf petioles and vascular localisation of ACO1 protein. Additionally, the results indicate that expression of LeACO genes is not affected by suppression of the LeLX expression. Keywords: abscission, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate oxidase, ethylene, gene expression, localization, RNase LX Published in DiRROS: 24.07.2024; Views: 1353; Downloads: 902
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8. Polypropylene blends with m-EPR copolymers : mechanical and rheological propertiesIztok Švab, Anđela Pustak, Matjaž Denac, Andrijana Sever Škapin, Mirela Leskovac, Vojko Musil, Ivan Šmit, 2018, original scientific article Abstract: The effects of two metallocene ethylene-propylene-based elastomers (m-EPR1 and m-EPR2) differing in molecular mass and viscosity on mechanical, rheological and interfacial properties were compared. The m-EPR elastomers were added to iPP in 2.5, 5, 10, 15, and 20 vol.%. Torque values, elongation at break and impact strength measured of the iPP/m-EPR1 blends were higher than the iPP/m-EPR2 blends due to higher molten viscosity of m-EPR1 than m-EPR2 copolymer. Slight differences in Young moduli as well as in tensile strength at yield and at break might indicate that tensile properties of iPP/m-EPR blends were not significantly affected by difference in viscosity or molecular mass, miscibility and spherulite size. Optimization diagrams indicated the metallocene m-EPR copolymers are efficient impact modifiers for polypropylene and showed good balancing of mechanical properties in iPP/m-EPR blends. Keywords: isotactic polypropylene, metallocene ethylene-propylene-based elastomers, blend, mechanical properties, adhesion parameters Published in DiRROS: 13.12.2023; Views: 1736; Downloads: 921
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