Page 6 - S. Plant biology

[S. Plant biology-4]

Pathogenesis-Related Thaumatin Like Genes are Involved in

the ABA Signal Transduction Pathway

Eun Joo Park¹, Tae-Houn Kim¹

¹Biotechnology/Convergence Science of Bio-Health, Duksung Women’s University, Seoul 01369, Korea

Sweet tasting protein thaumatin was first isolated from Thaumatococcus daniellii Benth and exist in various plant
species [1]. In Arabidopsis, twenty-two thaumatin-like genes were identified, but specific functions of each genes
need to be clarified [2]. Abiotic stress hormone ABA was previously reported to be involved in the regulation of

biotic stress signal transduction. Granting that biotic and abiotic stress signaling pathways might be tightly

interconnected by sharing certain components in both pathway, the characterization of components in ABA signal
transduction may enlighten a regulatory mechanism modulating both stress signal transduction pathways. During
characterization of quadruple and quintuple mutants of thaumatin genes, we found altered physiological

phenotypes from the mutants under ABA treatment. Moreover, ABA inductions of the ABA-responsive genes were
also affected in the mutants which is consistent with the observed physiological phenotypes. In addition to the

biotic stress-related phenotypes in the mutants, ABA signaling-related phenotypes of the thaumatin mutant suggest
that thaumatin-like genes may have a role in the regulation of interactions between abiotic and biotic stress

signaling pathways.

1.van der Wel, H. et al, 1972

2.Faillace GR et al, 2019