PDR type ABC transporters

The ATP-binding cassette (ABC) superfamily of membrane transporters is found in all pro- and eukaryotic species. All members of this family are involved in the active transport of many chemically and structurally unrelated compounds, and use ATP hydrolysis as a source of energy. Several of these proteins have been identified by their ability to confer drug resistance, hence their designation as multidrug resistance (MDR) or pleiotropic drug resistance (PDR) proteins. In plants, PDR transporters are been little characterized. Our objective is to unravel the physiological roles of plant PDR transporters. We have identified in Nicotiana plumbaginifolia PDR1 which transports anti-microbial metabolites and PDR3 which is involved in iron homeostasis.

PDR1 and plant defense
We have isolated a gene from Nicotiana plumbaginifolia, named PDR1, encoding a transporter localized in the plasma membrane. Under normal conditions, it is expressed in the leaf glandular trichomes and most probably transports antimicrobials such as the diterpene sclareol. However, PDR1 expression is induced in the whole leaf following infection with various pathogens such as the fungus Botrytis cinerea, and the bacteria Pseudomonas syringae pv tabaci. These data suggest that PDR1 is involved in both constitutive and jasmonic acid-dependent induced defense. Transgenic plants in which PDR1 expression was prevented by RNA interference showed increased sensitivity to sclareol and reduced resistance to B. cinerea. These data show that NpPDR1 is involved in pathogen resistance and thus demonstrate a new role for the ATP-binding cassette transporter family. The PDR1 transcription promoter has been studied in more detail and….

PDR3 and iron homeostasis
PDR3 expression was identified in N. tabacum culture cells upon…

 

Key publications

Jasinski, M., Stukkens,Y., Degand, H., Purnelle, B., Marchand-Brynaert, J., Boutry, M., (2001) A plant plasma membrane ATP binding cassette-type transporter is involved in antifungal terpenoid secretion, Plant Cell. 13, 1095-1107.

Jasinski, M., Ducos, E., Martinoia, E., Boutry, M. (2003) The ATP-binding-cassette transporters: structure, function and gene family comparison between rice and Arabidopsis, Plant Phys. 131, 1169-1177

Grec, S., Vanham, D., Christyn De Ribaucourt, J., Purnelle, B., Boutry, M. (2003) Identification of regulatory sequence elements within the transcription promoter of NpABC1, a gene encoding a plant ABC transporter induced by diterpenes, Plant J. 35, 237-250

Stukkens, Y., Bultreys, A., Grec, S., Trombik, T., Vanham, D. and Boutry, M. (2005) NpPDR1, a PDR-type ABC transporter from Nicotiana plumbaginifolia, plays a major role in plant pathogen defense. Plant Physiol, 139: 341-352

Ducos, E., Fraysse, A.S., Boutry, M. (2005)
NtPDR3, an iron-deficiency inducible ABC transporter in Nicotiana tabacum.
FEBS Lett. 579, 6791-6795

Crouzet, J., Trombik, T., Fraysse A.S., Boutry, M. (2006) Organization and function of the plant pleiotropic drug resistance ABC transporter family. FEBS Lett. 580, 1123-1130