Functional analysis of superoxide dismutases (SODs) in sunflower under biotic and abiotic stress conditions. Identification of two new genes of mitochondrial Mn-SOD.

Superoxide dismutases (SODs) are a family of metalloenzymes that catalyse the disproportionation of superoxide radicals into hydrogen peroxide and oxygen. In sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) seedlings, two new Mn-SOD isozymes, designated as I and II, were identified. However, no evidence for a Fe-SOD was found. Both Mn-SOD I and Mn-SOD II have a cleaved sequence of 14 residues that target the mitochondrion with a probability of 81% and 95%, respectively. The gene expression of these new mitochondrial Mn-SODs as well as the previously reported cytosolic and chloroplastic CuZnSODs was analyzed by real-time quantitative reverse transcription-PCR. This was done in the main organs (roots, hypocotyls, and cotyledons) of sunflower seedlings and also under biotic (infection by the pathogen Plasmopara halstedii) and abiotic stress conditions, including high and low temperature and mechanical wounding. Both CuZn-SODs had a gene expression of 1000-fold higher than that of mitochondrial Mn-SODs. And the expression of the Mn-SOD I was approximately 12-fold higher than that of Mn-SOD II. The Mn-SOD I showed a significant modulation in response to the assayed biotic and abiotic stresses even when it had no apparent oxidative stress, such as low temperature. Thus, it is proposed that the mitochondrial Mn-SOD I gene could act as an early sensor of adverse conditions to prevent potential oxidative damage.