Sex determination in Rumex acetosa, a dioecious plant with a complex XY1 Y2 sex chromosome system (females are XX and males are XY1 Y2 ), is not controlled by an active Y chromosome but depends on the ratio between the number of X chromosomes and autosomes. To gain insight into the molecular mechanisms of sex determination, we generated a subtracted cDNA library enriched in genes specifically or predominantly expressed in female floral buds in early stages of development, when sex determination mechanisms come into play. In the present paper, we report the molecular and functional characterization of FEM32, a gene encoding a protein that shares a common architecture with proteins in different plants, animals, bacteria and fungi of the aerolysin superfamily; many of these function as β pore-forming toxins. The expression analysis, assessed by northern blot, RT-PCR and in situ hybridization, demonstrates that this gene is specifically expressed in flowers in both early and late stages of development, although its transcripts accumulate much more in female flowers than in male flowers. The ectopic expression of FEM32 under both the constitutive promoter 35S and the flower-specific promoter AP3 in transgenic tobacco showed no obvious alteration in vegetative development but was able to alter floral organ growth and pollen fertility. The 35S::FEM32 and AP3::FEM32 transgenic lines showed a reduction in stamen development and pollen viability, as well as a diminution in fruit set, fruit development and seed production. Compared with other floral organs, pistil development was, however, enhanced in plants overexpressing FEM32. According to these effects, it is likely that FEM32 functions in Rumex by arresting stamen and pollen development during female flower development. The aerolysin-like pore-forming proteins of eukaryotes are mainly involved in defence mechanisms against bacteria, fungi and insects and are also involved in apoptosis and programmed cell death (PCD), a mechanism that could explain the role of FEM32 in Rumex sex determination.

• MeSH
• Bacterial Toxins classification   genetics   MeSH
• Pore Forming Cytotoxic Proteins classification   genetics   MeSH
• Phylogeny MeSH
• Plants, Genetically Modified MeSH
• Flowers genetics   growth & development   MeSH
• Plant Infertility genetics   MeSH
• Fruit genetics   growth & development   MeSH
• Pollen genetics   growth & development   MeSH
• Gene Expression Regulation, Plant MeSH
• Plant Proteins classification   genetics   MeSH
• Rumex genetics   growth & development   MeSH
• Amino Acid Sequence MeSH
• Sequence Homology, Amino Acid MeSH
• Seeds genetics   growth & development   MeSH
• Gene Expression Profiling methods   MeSH
• Nicotiana genetics   growth & development   MeSH
• Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: High Al resistance of Rumex obtusifolius together with its ability to accumulate Al has never been studied in weakly acidic conditions (pH > 5.8) and is not sufficiently described in real soil conditions. The potential elucidation of the role of organic acids in plant can explain the Al tolerance mechanism. METHODS: We established a pot experiment with R. obtusifolius planted in slightly acidic and alkaline soils. For the manipulation of Al availability, both soils were untreated and treated by lime and superphosphate. We determined mobile Al concentrations in soils and concentrations of Al and organic acids in organs. RESULTS: Al availability correlated positively to the extraction of organic acids (citric acid < oxalic acid) in soils. Monovalent Al cations were the most abundant mobile Al forms with positive charge in soils. Liming and superphosphate application were ambiguous measures for changing Al mobility in soils. Elevated transport of total Al from belowground organs into leaves was recorded in both lime-treated soils and in superphosphate-treated alkaline soil as a result of sufficient amount of Ca available from soil solution as well as from superphosphate that can probably modify distribution of total Al in R. obtusifolius as a representative of "oxalate plants." The highest concentrations of Al and organic acids were recorded in the leaves, followed by the stem and belowground organ infusions. CONCLUSIONS: In alkaline soil, R. obtusifolius is an Al-hyperaccumulator with the highest concentrations of oxalate in leaves, of malate in stems, and of citrate in belowground organs. These organic acids form strong complexes with Al that can play a key role in internal Al tolerance but the used methods did not allow us to distinguish the proportion of total Al-organic complexes to the free organic acids.

• MeSH
• Principal Component Analysis MeSH
• Biological Transport MeSH
• Aluminum pharmacokinetics   MeSH
• Hydrogen-Ion Concentration MeSH
• Citric Acid metabolism   MeSH
• Acetic Acid metabolism   MeSH
• Oxalic Acid metabolism   MeSH
• Soil Pollutants pharmacokinetics   MeSH
• Molecular Weight MeSH
• Soil chemistry   MeSH
• Rumex drug effects   metabolism   MeSH
• Tissue Distribution MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH

Chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) sequences are often found in plant nuclear genomes, but patterns of their chromosomal distribution are not fully understood. The distribution of cpDNA on the sex chromosomes can only be studied in dioecious plant species possessing heteromorphic sex chromosomes. We reconstructed the whole chloroplast genome of Rumex acetosa (sorrel, XY1Y2 system) from next generation sequencing data. We systematically mapped the chromosomal localization of various regions of cpDNA in R. acetosa and in Silene latifolia (white campion, XY system) using fluorescence in situ hybridization. We found that cpDNA was accumulated on the Y chromosomes of both studied species. In R. acetosa, the entire Y chromosome gathered all parts of cpDNA equally. On the contrary, in S. latifolia, the majority of the cpDNA, corresponding to the single copy regions, was localized in the centromere of the Y chromosome, while the inverted repeat region was present also in other loci. We found a stronger accumulation of cpDNA on the more degenerated Y1 and Y2 chromosomes of R. acetosa than in evolutionary younger S. latifolia Y chromosome. Our data stressed the prominent role of the Y chromosome centromere in cpDNA accumulation.

• MeSH
• Centromere MeSH
• Chromosomes, Plant genetics   MeSH
• DNA, Chloroplast * MeSH
• Species Specificity MeSH
• Genome, Chloroplast MeSH
• Gene Dosage MeSH
• In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence MeSH
• Mutagenesis, Insertional MeSH
• Evolution, Molecular * MeSH
• Sex Chromosomes genetics   MeSH
• Polymerase Chain Reaction MeSH
• Recombination, Genetic MeSH
• Rumex genetics   MeSH
• Silene genetics   MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Comparative Study MeSH

Rumex acetosa is a dioecious plant with the XY1Y2 sex chromosome system. Both Y chromosomes are heterochromatic and are thought to be degenerated. We performed low-pass 454 sequencing and similarity-based clustering of male and female genomic 454 reads to identify and characterize major groups of R. acetosa repetitive DNA. We found that Copia and Gypsy retrotransposons dominated, followed by DNA transposons and nonlong terminal repeat retrotransposons. CRM and Tat/Ogre retrotransposons dominated the Gypsy superfamily, whereas Maximus/Sireviruses were most abundant among Copia retrotransposons. Only one Gypsy subfamily had accumulated on Y1 and Y2 chromosomes, whereas many retrotransposons were ubiquitous on autosomes and the X chromosome, but absent on Y1 and Y2 chromosomes, and others were depleted from the X chromosome. One group of CRM Gypsy was specifically localized to centromeres. We also found that majority of previously described satellites (RAYSI, RAYSII, RAYSIII, and RAE180) are accumulated on the Y chromosomes where we identified Y chromosome-specific variant of RAE180. We discovered two novel satellites-RA160 satellite dominating on the X chromosome and RA690 localized mostly on the Y1 chromosome. The expression pattern obtained from Illumina RNA sequencing showed that the expression of transposable elements is similar in leaves of both sexes and that satellites are also expressed. Contrasting patterns of transposable elements (TEs) and satellite localization on sex chromosomes in R. acetosa, where not only accumulation but also depletion of repetitive DNA was observed, suggest that a plethora of evolutionary processes can shape sex chromosomes.

• MeSH
• Chromosomes, Plant genetics   MeSH
• Phylogeny MeSH
• Evolution, Molecular MeSH
• Molecular Sequence Data MeSH
• Sex Chromosomes genetics   MeSH
• Retroelements * MeSH
• Rumex classification   genetics   MeSH
• DNA, Satellite * MeSH
• Base Sequence MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH

Sex chromosomes are an ideal system to study processes connected with suppressed recombination. We found evidence of microsatellite expansion, on the relatively young Y chromosome of the dioecious plant sorrel (Rumex acetosa, XY1Y2 system), but no such expansion on the more ancient Y chromosomes of liverwort (Marchantia polymorpha) and human. The most expanding motifs were AC and AAC, which also showed periodicity of array length, indicating the importance of beginnings and ends of arrays. Our data indicate that abundance of microsatellites in genomes depends on the inherent expansion potential of specific motifs, which could be related to their stability and ability to adopt unusual DNA conformations. We also found that the abundance of microsatellites is higher in the neighborhood of transposable elements (TEs) suggesting that microsatellites are probably targets for TE insertions. This evidence suggests that microsatellite expansion is an early event shaping the Y chromosome where this process is not opposed by recombination, while accumulation of TEs and chromosome shrinkage predominate later.

• MeSH
• DNA, A-Form genetics   MeSH
• Chromosomes, Plant genetics   MeSH
• Gene Duplication MeSH
• In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Chromosomes, Human, Y genetics   MeSH
• Marchantia genetics   MeSH
• Metaphase genetics   MeSH
• Microsatellite Repeats genetics   MeSH
• Models, Genetic MeSH
• Evolution, Molecular * MeSH
• Periodicity MeSH
• Rumex genetics   MeSH
• Base Sequence MeSH
• Sequence Analysis, DNA MeSH
• DNA Transposable Elements genetics   MeSH
• DNA, Z-Form genetics   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH

Experimental studies have shown that phenolic compounds have antiproliferative and tumour arresting effects. The aim of this original study was to investigate the content of phenolic compounds (PhC) in flowers of Allium schoenoprasum (chive), Tragopogon pratensis (meadow salsify) and Rumex acetosa (common sorrel) and their effect on proliferation of HaCaT cells. Antiproliferative effects were evaluated in vitro using the following concentrations of phenolic compounds in cultivation medium: 100, 75, 50 and 25 µg/mL. Phenolic composition was also determined by HPLC. The results indicate that even low concentrations of these flowers' phenolic compounds inhibited cell proliferation significantly and the possible use of the studied herb's flowers as sources of active phenolic compounds for human nutrition.

• MeSH
• Phenols chemistry   pharmacology   MeSH
• Flowers chemistry   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Cell Line, Tumor drug effects   MeSH
• Chive anatomy & histology   chemistry   MeSH
• Antineoplastic Agents chemistry   pharmacology   MeSH
• Plant Extracts chemistry   pharmacology   MeSH
• Rumex anatomy & histology   chemistry   MeSH
• Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor MeSH
• Tragopogon anatomy & histology   chemistry   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH