Kathleen Soole

Flinders University · School of Biological Sciences

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is a very important food legume and needs improved drought tolerance for higher seed production in dry environments. The aim of this study was to determine diversity and genetic polymorphism in zinc finger knuckle genes with CCHC domains and their functional analysis for practical improvement of chickpea breeding. Two...

Stress-responsive components of the mitochondrial alternative electron transport pathway have the capacity to improve tolerance of plants to abiotic stress, particularly the alternative oxidase AOX1A but also external NAD(P)H dehydrogenases such as NDB2, in Arabidopsis. NDB2 and AOX1A can cooperate to entirely circumvent the classical electron tran...

Height from soil at the base of plant to the first pod (HFP) is an important trait for mechanical harvesting of legume crops. To minimise the loss of pods, the HFP must be higher than that of the blades of most combine harvesters. Here, we review the genetic control, morphology, and variability of HFP in legumes and attempt to unravel the diverse t...

Doubled haploid production is a valuable biotechnology that can accelerate the breeding of new wheat varieties by several years through the one step creation of 100% homozygous plants. The technology also plays important role in studying the genetic control of traits in wheat, in marker-assisted selection, in genomics and in genetic engineering. In...

The proposed method is a modified and improved version of the existing “Allele-specific q-PCR” (ASQ) method for genotyping of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). This method is similar to frequently used techniques like Amplifluor and Kompetitive allele specific PCR (KASP), as well as others...

Two genes, HvSAP8 and HvSAP16, encoding Zinc-finger proteins, were identified earlier as active in barley plants. Based on bioinformatics and sequencing analysis, six SNPs were found in the promoter regions of HvSAP8 and one in HvSAP16, among parents of two barley segregating populations, Granal × Baisheshek and Natali × Auksiniai-2. ASQ and Amplif...

Tartaric acid (TA) is an obscure end point to the catabolism of ascorbic acid (Asc). Here, it is proposed as a “specialized primary metabolite”, originating from carbohydrate metabolism but with restricted distribution within the plant kingdom and lack of known function in primary metabolic pathways. Grapes fall into the list of high TA-accumulator...

Down-regulator associated protein, DrAp1, acts as a negative cofactor (NC2α) in a transcription repressor complex together with another subunit, down-regulator Dr1 (NC2β). In binding to promotors and regulating the initiation of transcription of various genes, DrAp1 plays a key role in plant transition to flowering and ultimately in seed production...

Background Chickpea is an important legume and is moderately tolerant to salinity stress during the growing season. However, the level and mechanisms for salinity tolerance can vary among accessions and cultivars. A large family of CaRab -GTP genes, previously identified in chickpea, is homologous to intracellular vesicle trafficking superfamily ge...

Background A family of genes designated as the Zinc finger A20/AN1 Transcription factors encoding stress-associated proteins ( SAP ) are well described in Arabidopsis and rice, and include 14 AtSAP and 18 OsSAP genes that are associated with variable tolerances to multiple abiotic stresses. The SAP gene family displays a great diversity in its stru...

Rht genes control reduced height in wheat, and two identified loci, Rht1 (Rht‐B1b ) and Rht2 (Rht‐D1b ) and mutants thereof, were central in achieving the much celebrated “Green revolution”. Dwarf and semi‐dwarf wheat plants have thicker and shorter stems and are less prone to lodging in irrigated fields, resulting in much higher grain yield. Serio...

All plants contain an alternative electron transport pathway (AP) in their mitochondria, consisting of the alternative oxidase (AOX) and type 2 NAD(P)H dehydrogenase (ND) families, that are thought to play a role in controlling oxidative stress responses at the cellular level. These alternative electron transport components have been extensively st...

Plants cannot rely on dietary sources of complex metabolites and must generate all organic matter from fundamental environmental elements. Therefore, while the major function of mitochondria in plants, as in any eukaryote, is synthesis and distribution of the cellular energy carrier adenosine triphosphate (ATP), it also must fulfill an anabolic rol...

In addition to thermogenesis in select organs of some species, the alternative pathway of mitochondrial electron transport in plants is thought to contribute to the prevention of cellular damage during exposure to environmental stress. We have investigated the function and role of one alternative path component, AtNDB2, using a transgenic approach....

Agriculture is expanding into regions that are affected by salinity. This review considers the energetic costs of salinity tolerance in crop plants and provides a framework for a quantitative assessment of costs. Different sources of energy, and modifications of root system architecture that would maximize water vs ion uptake are addressed. Energy...

The general transcription repressor, TaDr1 gene, was identified during screening of a wheat SNP database using the Amplifluor-like SNP marker KATU-W62. Together with two genes described earlier, TaDr1A and TaDr1B, they represent a set of three homeologous genes in the wheat genome. Under drought, the total expression profiles of all three genes var...

Intracellular vesicle trafficking genes, Rab, encoding small GTP binding proteins, have been well studied in medical research, but there is little information concerning these proteins in plants. Some sub-families of the Rab genes have not yet been characterized in plants, such as RabC – otherwise known as Rab18 in yeast and animals. Our study aime...

Two groups of six spring bread wheat varieties with either high or low grain yield under the dry conditions of Central and Northern Kazakhstan were selected for analysis. Experiments were set up with the selected wheat varieties in controlled environments as follows: (1) slowly progressing drought imposed on plants in soil, (2) rapid dehydration of...

Plants have a non-energy conserving bypass of the classical mitochondrial cytochrome c pathway, known as the alternative respiratory pathway (AP). This involves type II NAD(P)H dehydrogenases (NDs) on both sides of the mitochondrial inner membrane, ubiquinone, and the alternative oxidase (AOX). The AP components have been widely characterised from...

Mitochondria isolated from chickpea (Cicer arietinum) possess substantial alternative oxidase (AOX) activity, even in non-stressed plants, and one or two AOX protein bands were detected immunologically, depending on the organ. Four different AOX isoforms were identified in the chickpea genome: CaAOX1 and CaAOX2A, B and D. CaAOX2A was the most highl...

Background: KASP (KBioscience Competitive Allele Specific PCR) and Amplifluor (Amplification with fluorescence) SNP markers are two prominent technologies based upon a shared identical Allele-specific PCR platform. Methods: Amplifluor-like SNP and KASP analysis was carried out using published and own design of Universal probes (UPs) and Gene-spe...

Drought escape (DE) is a classical adaptive mechanism which involves rapid plant development to enable the completion of the full life-cycle prior to a coming drought event. This strategy is widely used in populations of native plants, and is also applicable to cereal crops such as wheat. Early flowering time and a shorter vegetative phase can be v...

Sulfonylureas are a popular herbicide used today for controlling weeds. While beneficial for this purpose they present a persistent problem in agricultural treated areas proving detrimental for successive crops. This study assessed the phytoremediative properties of lentils (Lens culinaris) grown in uncontaminated and Chlorsulfuron-contaminated soi...

A panel of 89 local commercial cultivars of bread wheat was tested in field trials in the dry conditions of Northern Kazakhstan. Two distinct groups of cultivars (six cultivars in each group), which had the highest and the lowest grain yield under drought were selected for further experiments. A dehydration test conducted on detached leaves indicat...

panel of 89 local commercial cultivars of bread wheat was tested in field trials in the dry conditions of Northern Kazakhstan. Two distinct groups of cultivars (six cultivars in each group), which had the highest and the lowest grain yield under drought were selected for further experiments. A dehydration test conducted on detached leaves indicated...

Average grain production (3 years, 12 plots each) in a panel of 89 bread wheat cultivars in the dry environment of the Karaganda region, Northern Kazakhstan.

A list of the 19 Amplifluor SNP markers, references to the annotated contigs, corresponding BLAST results and sequences with SNP positions.

Plant mitochondria contain at least four type II NAD(P)H dehydrogenases that link NAD(P)H oxidation to the inner membrane electron transport chain and bypass proton pumping at Complex I, hence ATP synthesis. These activities have been found in mitochondria isolated from all plant species analyzed to date. In this chapter, methods are presented to a...

Berries of the cultivated grapevine Vitis vinifera are notably responsive to temperature, which can influence fruit quality and hence the future compatibility of varieties with their current growing regions. Organic acids represent a key component of fruit organoleptic quality and their content is significantly influenced by temperature. The object...

Methoxypyrazines are sensorially potent volatile compounds responsible for herbaceous/vegetal attributes in wines made from certain grape varieties. The biosynthesis of these compounds in grape berries is known to occur via a pathway that involves the methylation of hydroxypyrazine intermediates. Certain viticultural management regimes can be used...

Methoxypyrazines are a family of potent volatile compounds of diverse biological significance. They are used by insects and plants in chemical defence, are present in many vegetables and fruit and, in particular, impart herbaceous/green/vegetal sensory attributes to wines of certain varieties, including Cabernet Sauvignon. While pathways for methox...

The accumulation of L-ascorbate (Asc) in fruits is influenced by environmental factors including light quantity. Fruit exposure to ambient light is often reduced by the surrounding leaf canopy, and can be altered by cultivation practices. The influence of reduced sunlight exposure on the accumulation of Asc and its catabolites was investigated in f...

The branched respiratory electron transport chain of plants contains a non-phosphorylating alternative pathway consisting of type II NAD(P)H dehydrogenases on both sides of the inner membrane linked through the ubiquinone pool to an alternative oxidase (AOX). T-DNA and RNA interference (RNAi) were used to reduce gene expression to characterize the...

Currently, studies often focus on the use of Poaceae species (grasses) for phytoremediation of hydrocarbon-contaminated soils. Research into the use of Fabaceae species (legumes) to remediate hydrocarbons in soils has been conducted, but these plants are commonly overlooked due to slower recorded rates of degradation compared with many grass specie...

Methoxypyrazines (MPs) are volatile, grape-derived aroma compounds that contribute to the distinct herbaceous characters of some wines. Although the full pathway leading to MP production has not been elucidated, there is strong evidence that the final step involves the methylation of non-volatile hydroxypyrazine (HP) precursors. Two cDNA encoding O...

Mitochondrial respiration in plants provides energy for biosynthesis, and its balance with photosynthesis determines the rate of plant biomass accumulation. We describe recent advances in our understanding of the mitochondrial respiratory machinery of cells, including the presence of a classical oxidative phosphorylation system linked to the cytoso...

Wild-type Arabidopsis thaliana L. seedlings generated in liquid culture were subjected to long-and short-term phosphate (Pi) stress to assess the response of the non-phosphorylating pathway of mitochondrial electron transport, comprising the internal (NDin) and external (NDex) non-phosphorylating NAD(P)H dehydrogenases and the alternative oxidase (...

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The mean fresh weight of berries across development. A. 2005-2006 developmental season, n = 3, SEM bars and B. 2007-2008 developmental season, n = 4, SEM bars. Lowess curves were fitted to both graphs A and B. The developmental stage of veraison is indicated by a grey dotted box.

List of Primers used in amplification of full-length coding sequences. The table lists primer sequences, GenBank accession numbers and PCR conditions used in the amplification of genes using template cDNA derived from RNA of Vitis vinifera c.v. Shiraz berries.

Total Soluble Solids (TSS) expressed as Brix° of berries across development. A. 2005-2006 developmental season, n = 3 and SEM bars. B. 2007-2008 developmental season, n = 4, SEM bars, a lowess curve was fitted to the graph. The developmental stage of veraison is indicated by a grey dotted box.

Malic acid accumulation in developing berries]. A. 2005-2006 developmental season. n = 3, SEM bars and B. 2007-2008 developmental season n = 4, SEM bars. Lowess curves were fitted to both graphs A and B. The developmental stage of veraison is indicated by a grey dotted box.

List of Primers used in quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) reactions. The table lists the primer sequences used in qRT-PCR reactions and the length of the amplicon in base pairs (bp). These reactions enabled analysis of gene transcription against berry cDNA template.

The growth and development of plants can be limited by environmental stresses such as salinity. It has been suggested that the non-phosphorylating alternative respiratory pathway in plants, mediated by the NAD(P)H dehydrogenase [NAD(P)H DH] and alternative oxidase (AOX), is important during environmental stresses. The involvement of this alternativ...

Fresh fruits are well accepted as a good source of the dietary antioxidant ascorbic acid (Asc, Vitamin C). However, fruits such as grapes do not accumulate exceptionally high quantities of Asc. Grapes, unlike most other cultivated fruits do however use Asc as a precursor for the synthesis of both oxalic (OA) and tartaric acids (TA). TA is a commerc...

Organic acids are present in all plants, supporting numerous and varied facets of cellular metabolism. The type of organic acid found, and the levels to which they accumulate are extremely variable between species, developmental stages and tissue types. Acidity plays important roles in the organoleptic properties of plant tissues, where examples of...

Background and Aims:  The majority of the acidity of a grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) berry is a result of the accumulation of l-tartaric (TA) and l-malic acids (MA). TA is synthesised from l-ascorbic acid (Asc, vitamin C), the metabolism of which is poorly characterised in grapevines. In a distinct pathway, oxalic acid (OA) is also formed from Asc...

Rhizoremediation involves the breakdown of contaminants in soil resulting from microbial activity that is enhanced in the plant root zone. The objective of this study was to identify Australian native grass species as suitable candidates for rhizoremediation application. Seeds of nine perennial Australian native grasses were sown in soil from a min...

Selenium (Se) is essential for humans and animals but is not considered to be essential for higher plants. Although researchers have found increases in vegetative growth due to fertiliser Se, there has been no definitive evidence to date of increased reproductive capacity, in terms of seed production and seed viability. The aim of this study was to...

The oxidation of matrix NADH in the presence and absence of rotenone was investigated in submitochondrial particles prepared from purified beetroot ( Beta vulgaris L.) mitochondria. The submitochondrial particles oxidised NADH using oxygen and artificial electron acceptors such as ferricyanide (FeCN) and short‐chain analogues of ubiquinone(UQ)‐10,...

The kinetics of NADH oxidation by the outer membrane electron transport system of intact beetroot (Beta vulgaris L.) mitochondria were investigated. Very different values for Vmax and the Km for NADH were obtained when either antimycin A-insensitive NADH-cytochrome c activity (Vmax= 31 ± 2.5 nmol cytochrome c (mg protein)−1 min−1; Km= 3.1 ± 0.8 μM)...

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is the energy carrier of the cell and in eukaryotic cells is synthesized via photosynthesis and respiration. Within respiration, there is a low level of ATP synthesis associated with glycolysis in the cytoplasm; however, the majority of ATP is synthesized via oxidative phosphorylation which occurs within mitochondria, s...

This paper describes the development and validation of a commercially available radioimmunoassay (RIA) for the detection of fish insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I). The assay was developed using recombinant barramundi IGF-I as antigen and recombinant tuna IGF-I as radiolabelled tracer and standard. Assay sensitivity was 0.15 ng/ml, inter-assay va...

Plant mitochondria have a highly branched electron transport chain that provides great flexibility for oxidation of cytosolic and matrix NAD(P)H. In addition to the universal electron transport chain found in many organisms, plants have alternative NAD(P)H dehydrogenases in the first part of the chain and a second oxidase, the alternative oxidase,...

The so-called “alternative” electron transport protems, the rotenone-insensitive NAD(P)H dehydrogenases and the alternative oxidase, distinguish the inner membrane of plant mitochondria from its animal counterpart. These proteins provide plant tissues possessing them with the potential to modulate the efficiency with which energy is conserved by re...

Plant mitochondria contain non-phosphorylating NAD(P)H dehydrogenases (DHs) that are not found in animal mitochondria. The physiological function, substrate specificity, and location of enzymes within this family have yet to be conclusively determined. We have linked genome sequence information to protein and biochemical data to identify that At1g0...

Regulation of respiration in Nicotiana tabacum suspension cultures was studied using the respiratory inhibitor myxothiazol and the oxidative phosphorylation uncoupler carbonylcyanide p-(trifluoromethoxy)phenylhydrazone (FCCP). Myxothiazol (2 μM) or FCCP (2 μM) almost completely inhibited cell growth for about 24 h, after which the cultures could re...

Exposure to metals, particularly lead, remains a widespread issue that is associated with historical and current industrial practices. Whereas the toxic properties of metals are well described, exposure to metals per se is only one of many factors contributing to elevated blood metal concentrations and their consequent health effects in humans. The...

Chloramphenicol (CAP) inhibited tobacco cell growth as shown by a reduction (34%) of cell mass 4 days after treatment. The rates of cell respiration were slightly higher than control under coupled conditions. However, CAP-treated cells showed a decreased maximal capacity of the cytochrome pathway (48%) and an increased maximal capacity of alternati...

Port Pirie is the site of the largest lead smelter in the world, depositing 250 t of zinc, and 100 t of lead annually into Spencer Gulf. Barker Inlet is adjacent to metropolitan Adelaide, and receives unknown quantities of urban and industrial discharges. Both areas are sites of major commercial and recreational fisheries, contained within delicate...

Cells of Nicotiana tabacum L. suspension cultures were treated with the respiratory inhibitor rotenone, which specifically inhibits complex I activity of mitochondria. Rotenone retarded cell growth, as shown by decreases in fresh weight, dry weight and cell numbers on a suspension-volume basis. However, rates of the coupled respiration were higher...

The reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, more commonly known as RT-PCR, has become a widely used tool in molecular biology and is now frequently used in monitoring gene expression levels. A number of variations in the RT-PCR technique now exist including TaqMan PCR (5' nuclease assay), which is a useful nonisotopic detection method for...

The in vivo actions of human and fish insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I have been compared to extend the understanding of the metabolism of IGFs in fish and to identify potential differences in their actions. The effects of acute administration of these proteins on the incorporation of glucose into muscle glycogen and leucine into liver protein in...

Recent studies have demonstrated the existence of glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored proteins in higher plants. In this study we tested whether GPI-addition signals from diverse evolutionary sources would function to link a GPI-anchor to a reporter protein in plant cells. Tobacco protoplasts were transiently transfected with a truncated f...

The oxidation of matrix and cytosolic NADH by isolated beetroot and wheat leaf mitochondria was investigated to determine whether the rotenone-insensitive NADH dehydrogenases of plant mitochondria were the products of nuclear or mitochondrial genes. After aging beetroot tissue (slicing and incubating in a CaSO4 solution), the induction of the level...

Glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored plasma membrane proteins have been found to be widespread in eukaryotes and protozoa but have not been reported in higher terrestrial plants. A sensitive biotin-based assay has been used to detect the presence of GPI-anchored proteins on the outer surface of cultured Nicotiana tabacum cells. Six proteins...

Proteins may be associated with the outer leatlet of t he plasma membrane via a glycan linkage to the inositol head group of lipid mlecules. Such g/ycosyl phosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored proteins are widt, spread in higher eukaryotes such as yeasts and protozoa. To (late, however, there have been f(,w reports of GPI-anchored proteins in plants....

In non-ruminant livestock the use of plant structural carbohydrates, such as cellulose and xylan, as a dietary source is limited by the lack of intestinal enzymes to degrade this material to simple sugars. Any dietary energy made available is through the action of microbes in the hind gut, but this fermentation is inefficient with the production of...

There are multiple routes of NAD(P)H oxidation associated with the inner membrane of plant mitochondria. These are the phosphorylating NADH dehydrogenase, otherwise known as Complex I, and at least four other nonphosphorylating NAD(P)H dehydrogenases. Complex I has been isolated from beetroot, broad bean, and potato mitochondria. It has at least 32...

To evaluate whether a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor can function as a protein sorting signal in polarized intestinal epithelial cells, the GPI-attachment sequence from Thy-1 was fused to bacterial endoglucanase E' (EGE') from Clostridium thermocellum and polarity of secretion of the chimeric EGE'-GPI protein was evaluated. The chimeric...

The catalytic domain of mature Clostridium thermocellum endoglucanase E (EGE') and derivatives of the enzyme fused to prokaryote and eukaryote signal peptides (SP), were produced in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells and Escherichia coli. All three forms of the endoglucanase were secreted into the periplasm of Escherichia coli, but only derivatives...

The constitutive (or default) pathway for protein secretion was investigated in two epithelial cells, Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) and human colonic adenocarcinoma (Caco-2), using a bacterial enzyme. The choice of a bacterial protein was based on the requirement to identify a protein devoid of sorting signals. The sorting of a bacterial endoglu...

A NADH dehydrogenase was isolated from an inner membrane-enriched fraction of beetroot mitochondria (Beta vulgaris L.) by solubilization with sodium deoxycholate and purified using gel filtration and affinity chromatography. The NADH dehydrogenase preparation contained a minor ATPase contamination. Beetroot mitochondria were chosen as the isolation...

External NADH and succinate were oxidized at similar rates by soybean (Glycine max) cotyledon and leaf mitochondria when the cytochrome chain was operating, but the rate of NADH oxidation via the alternative oxidase was only half that of succinate. However, measurements of the redox poise of the endogenous quinone pool and reduction of added quinon...

The most common technique used to determine the location of enzymes associated with mitochondria involves measuring the latency of enzyme activity in mitochondria treated with different concentrations of detergent3. The interpretation of such data is not always straightforward. In this study we demonstrate how proteolysis may be used to selectively...

The effects of added NAD on substrate oxidation by turnip (Brassica rapa L.) and beetroot (Beta vulgaris L.) mitochondria were investigated. State 3 malate and 2-oxoglutarate oxidation rates with turnip mitochondria were stimulated 25 to 40% by external NAD. Following NAD-depletion this stimulation by NAD was increased to 70 to 80%. With purified b...

ANADHdehydrogenase wasisolated fromaninner membrane- enriched fraction ofbeetroot mitochondria (Beta vulgaris L.)by solubilization withsodiumdeoxycholate andpurified using gel filtration andaffinity chromatography. TheNADHdehydrogenase preparation contained aminorATPasecontamination. Beetroot mitochondria werechosen astheisolation material forpurif...