Characterization of two subclasses of PR-10 transcripts in lily anthers and induction of their genes through separate signal transduction pathways.

The lily PR-10 belongs to a family of intracellular pathogenesis-related (IPR) proteins. Genomic Southern analysis indicates that the PR-10 is encoded by a family of multiple genes. Seven heterogeneous cDNA clones encoding lily PR-10 from Lilium longiflorum are divided into two subclasses based on sequence comparison and Southern hybridization. A 82% overall sequence similarity was found between the two subclasses (represented by PR-10c and d). The two cDNAs include an open reading frame of 474 bp encoding 157 amino acids. 5'- and 3'-untranslated regions exhibit low similarity, but similarity is high in the coding region. The lily PR-10 genes are induced by abscisic acid (ABA) and methyl jasmonate (MeJA) in the anther and various other organs of lily plants. The induction of PR-10 genes by ABA and MeJA in lily anthers occurs by two separate signal transduction pathways. The protein phosphatase inhibitor okadaic acid inhibits the MeJA-induced expression of PR-10 genes downstream of MeJA. In addition, the protein kinase inhibitor staurosporine inhibits the MeJA-induced expression of PR-10 genes, implying that an activity of staurosporine-sensitive protein kinases exists downstream of MeJA in the anther. However, okadaic acid does not inhibit the ABA-induced expression of PR-10 genes whereas staurosporine does. These observations suggest that, in addition to the known pathway that ABA induces gene expression by activating JA or MeJA, a MeJA-independent pathway of ABA induction exists in the anther. The alternative pathway of ABA induction involves a staurosporine-sensitive protein kinase activity downstream of ABA.