Abstract

Plant chitinases have been studied for their importance in the defense of crop plants from pathogen attacks and for their peculiar vacuolar sorting determinants. A peculiarity of the sequence of many family 19 chitinases is the presence of a C-terminal extension that seems to be important for their correct recognition by the vacuole sorting machinery. The 7 amino acids long C-terminal vacuolar sorting determinant (CtVSD) of tobacco chitinase A is necessary and sufficient for the transport to the vacuole. This VSD shares no homology with other CtVSDs such as the phaseolin's tetrapeptide AFVY (AlaPheValTyr) and it is also sorted by different mechanisms. While a receptor for this signal has not yet been convincingly identified, the research using the chitinase CtVSD has been very informative, leading to the observation of phenomena otherwise difficult to observe such as the presence of separate vacuoles in differentiating cells and the existence of a Golgi-independent route to the vacuole. Thanks to these new insights in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-to-vacuole transport, GFPChi (Green Fluorescent Protein carrying the chitinase A CtVSD) and other markers based on chitinase signals will continue to help the investigation of vacuolar biogenesis in plants.

Autore Pugliese

• Di Sansebastiano Gian Pietro

Tutti gli autori

• Stigliano E. , Di Sansebastiano G.P. , Neuhaus J.M.

Titolo volume/Rivista

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES

Anno di pubblicazione

2014

ISSN

1422-0067

ISBN

Non Disponibile

Numero di citazioni Wos

5

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

27/04/2018

Numero di citazioni Scopus

5

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

28/04/2018

Settori ERC

Non Disponibile

Codici ASJC

Non Disponibile