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JAZ repressor proteins are targets of the SCFCOI1 complex during jasmonate signalling

Nature volume 448, pages 661–665 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Jasmonate and related signalling compounds have a crucial role in both host immunity and development in plants, but the molecular details of the signalling mechanism are poorly understood. Here we identify members of the jasmonate ZIM-domain (JAZ) protein family as key regulators of jasmonate signalling. JAZ1 protein acts to repress transcription of jasmonate-responsive genes. Jasmonate treatment causes JAZ1 degradation and this degradation is dependent on activities of the SCFCOI1 ubiquitin ligase and the 26S proteasome. Furthermore, the jasmonoyl–isoleucine (JA–Ile) conjugate, but not other jasmonate-derivatives such as jasmonate, 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid, or methyl-jasmonate, promotes physical interaction between COI1 and JAZ1 proteins in the absence of other plant proteins. Our results suggest a model in which jasmonate ligands promote the binding of the SCFCOI1 ubiquitin ligase to and subsequent degradation of the JAZ1 repressor protein, and implicate the SCFCOI1–JAZ1 protein complex as a site of perception of the plant hormone JA–Ile.

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Figure 1: Identification and analysis of eight JAZ proteins in Arabidopsis.
Figure 2: Deletion of domain 3 of JAZ1 produces a dominant, jasmonate-resistant phenotype.
Figure 3: Analysis of JAZ1–GUS function.
Figure 4: JA–Ile-dependent interaction between COI1 and JAZ1 in yeast.
Figure 5: Specificity of jasmonate action in a cell-free system.

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Acknowledgements

We are particularly grateful to Y. Shimada and members of his laboratory for the publicly available data in Fig. 1b, J. Turner for coi1-1, R. Kramell and P. Staswick for providing jasmonate–amino-acid conjugates, and M. Garavito for pRMG-nMAL. We thank C. Skidmore for help preparing the figures, B. Ryan and C. Somerville for discussions and critical reading of the manuscript. Arabidopsis T-DNA mutants were from the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center, Ohio State University. This work was supported by funding from the US Department of Energy (J.B., S.Y.H., G.A.H.), the National Institutes of Health (S.Y.H., G.A.H.) and the Agricultural Research Center at WSU (J.B.).

Author Contributions B.T., L.K., M.M., S.Y.H., G.A.H. and J.B. planned experiments and analyses. B.T., L.K., M.M., Y.N., A.M., G.L. and K.N. performed experiments and analysed the results. B.T., S.Y.H., G.A.H. and J.B. wrote the manuscript. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

The GenBank accession number for the tomato JAZ1 nucleotide sequence is EF591123. The GEO accession number for microarray data is GDS2133.

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  1. Bryan Thines

    Present address: Present address: USDA Plant Gene Expression Center, 800 Buchanan Street, Albany, California 94710, USA.,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biological Chemistry, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164-6340, USA,

    Bryan Thines, Yajie Niu, Ajin Mandaokar & John Browse

  2. Department of Energy-Plant Research Laboratory,,

    Leron Katsir, Maeli Melotto, Guanghui Liu, Kinya Nomura, Sheng Yang He & Gregg A. Howe

  3. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,,

    Leron Katsir & Gregg A. Howe

  4. Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA,

    Sheng Yang He

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Correspondence to John Browse.

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The GenBank accession number for the tomato JAZ1 nucleotide sequence is EF591123. The GEO accession number for microarray data is GDS2133. Reprints and permissions information is available at www.nature.com/reprints. The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Thines, B., Katsir, L., Melotto, M. et al. JAZ repressor proteins are targets of the SCFCOI1 complex during jasmonate signalling. Nature 448, 661–665 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05960

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