Engineering calcium oxalate crystal formation in Arabidopsis

Plant & Cell Physiology
Paul A Nakata

Abstract

Many plants accumulate crystals of calcium oxalate. Just how these crystals form remains unknown. To gain insight into the mechanisms regulating calcium oxalate crystal formation, a crystal engineering approach was initiated utilizing the non-crystal-accumulating plant, Arabidopsis. The success of this approach hinged on the ability to transform Arabidopsis genetically into a calcium oxalate crystal-accumulating plant. To accomplish this transformation, two oxalic acid biosynthetic genes, obcA and obcB, from the oxalate-secreting phytopathogen, Burkholderia glumae were inserted into the Arabidopsis genome. The co-expression of these two bacterial genes in Arabidopsis conferred the ability not only to produce a measurable amount of oxalate but also to form crystals of calcium oxalate. Biochemical and cellular studies of crystal accumulation in Arabidopsis revealed features that are similar to those observed in the cells of crystal-forming plants. Thus, it appears that at least some of the basic components that comprise the calcium oxalate crystal formation machinery are conserved even in non-crystal-accumulating plants.

References

Mar 9, 1999·The Plant Journal : for Cell and Molecular Biology·S J Clough, A F Bent
May 30, 2001·Trends in Plant Science·J F MaE Delhaize
Jul 12, 2002·Planta·Michele M McConn, Paul A Nakata
May 3, 2005·Annual Review of Plant Biology·Vincent R Franceschi, Paul A Nakata
Feb 10, 2010·FEMS Microbiology Letters·Paul A Nakata, Cixin He

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Citations

Sep 17, 2013·The Plant Journal : for Cell and Molecular Biology·Tracy PunshonPaul A Nakata
Jun 5, 2018·Molecules : a Journal of Synthetic Chemistry and Natural Product Chemistry·Xiaofeng CaiQuanhua Wang
Sep 25, 2018·Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications·Ninghui ChengPaul A Nakata
Apr 4, 2021·International Journal of Molecular Sciences·Justin FosterPaul A Nakata
Jul 8, 2021·Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture·Seyed Fazel MirahmadiKaramatollah Rezaei

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