The promoter of the Tnt1A retrotransposon is activated by ozone air pollution in tomato, but not in its natural host tobacco

• Published in: Plant science (Limerick) Vol. 165; no. 5; pp. 983 - 992
• Main Authors: Pourtau, Nathalie, Lauga, Béatrice, Audéon, Colette, Grandbastien, Marie-Angèle, Goulas, Philippe, Salvado, Jean-Claude
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier Ireland Ltd 01-11-2003; Elsevier Science; Elsevier
• Subjects: Active retrotransposon; air pollution; beta-glucuronidase; Biological and medical sciences; Differential activation; Environmental Sciences; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene expression; Global Changes; kinetics; leaf development; Molecular and cellular biology; Molecular genetics; Ozone; plant damage; plant morphology; plant response; plant stress; pollutants; promoter regions; protein synthesis; reporter genes; retrotransposons; Solanum lycopersicum var. lycopersicum; Stress; Tobacco; Tomato; tomatoes; transcriptional activation; transgenic plants; vegetable crops; OTC, open top chambers; Tobacco; OMT, ortho-diphenol- O-methyl-transferase; Active retrotransposon; Ozone; AA, ambient air; GUS, β-glucuronidase; Differential activation; ROS, reactive oxygen species; Tomato; Stress; LTR, long terminal repeat; Retrotransposon; Heterologous system; Activation; Gene expression; Nicotiana tabacum; Dicotyledones; Angiospermae; Lycopersicon esculentum; Defense mechanism; Air pollution; Spermatophyta; Solanaceae
• ISSN: 0168-9452; 1873-2259
• DOI: 10.1016/S0168-9452(03)00278-4

The tobacco retrotransposon
Tnt1A is one of the few active plant retrotransposon and is known to be transcriptionally activated in tobacco (
Nicotiana tabacum) and in heterologous species by biotic and abiotic stress factors. It has been previously reported that
Tnt1A expression is linked with the early steps of metabolic pathways leading to the activation of plant defence genes. As ozone is known to generate an oxidative stress in plant and activate the defence system, we have investigated, using LTR-GUS constructs, the effect of ozone on the
Tnt1A promoter activation in its natural host tobacco and in an heterologous species, tomato (
Lycopersicon esculentum). Plants cultivated in open top chambers (OTC) were exposed to different ozone concentrations in order to simulate either different range of a realistic chronic ozone stress or an acute ozone stress. The results show that the
Tnt1A promoter is not activated by ozone in tobacco, whereas dose-dependant and cumulative effects are observed in tomato. This difference observed between tobacco and tomato is discussed. Moreover the use of such a construct to study both early response to ozone stress and regulation of the retrotransoposon is examined.