Natriuretic peptide hormones promote radial water movements from the xylem of Tradescantia shoots

I. N. Suwastika, C. A. Gehring*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Scopus citations

Abstract

Immunological evidence suggests that plants, like vertebrates, contain natriuretic peptides (NPs) and that rat atrial NP (rANP) binds specifically to plant membranes and promotes concentration and conformation-dependent stomatal opening. Stomatal opening and specific increases in cGMP levels were also observed in response to immunoreactive plant NP (irPNP). Here we report that both 1 μM rANP and irPNP (100 ng total protein/100 μL) significantly increase radial water movements out of the xylem of shoots of Tradescantia multiflora. Enhanced radial water movements are also observed in response to the cell permeant cGMP analogue 8-Br-cGMP (100 nM). The water channel inhibitor mercuric chloride (HgCl2) significantly inhibits radial water movements at concentrations of 50 μM, while the presence of 10 μM 2-hydroxyethylmercaptoethanol (ME) prevents the inhibitory effect of the mercurial. The guanylate cyclase inhibitor LY 83583 at a concentration of 20 μM and sodium azide (NaN3) at concentrations of ≥ 1 μM both also reduce radial water movements. We therefore conclude that the regulation of radial water movement out of the xylem involves modulation of cGMP levels, water channels and respiration-dependent processes. In addition, we propose that NPs have a critical role to play in radial water movements out of the xylem and speculate that as in vertebrates, NP effects might, at least in part, be mediated via the regulation of guanylate cyclases and water channels.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1161-1167
Number of pages7
JournalCellular and Molecular Life Sciences
Volume54
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - 1998
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • H NMR
  • HgCl
  • Natriuretic peptides in plants
  • Water channels
  • cGMP

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
  • Molecular Medicine
  • Molecular Biology
  • Cell Biology
  • Pharmacology

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