Abstract
The water uptake capacity of plant roots (root hydraulic conductivity, Lpr) is mainly determined by water channels (aquaporins) and is modulated by environmental constraints. The present work characterised, in a unique organism (Arabidopsis), effects on Lpr of abiotic and biotic constraints representative of environmental situations. Whereas flagelline does not affect Lpr, osmotic (NaCl or mannitol), oxidative (H2O2 or NO) and nutritional (phosphate or nitrate starvation, prolonged night) stimuli inhibit Lpr. However, phosphate and sucrose resupply stimulate Lpr. A phosphoproteomics approach based on MS analysis of microsomal proteins extracted from roots of plants cultivated in different environmental constraints (NaCl, NO,phosphate starvation and resupply) allowed to quantify variations of abundance of roots aquaporins and of their PTMs. As a qualitative point of view, 22 aquaporins were identified in roots as well as several post-translational modifications including new sites of phosphorylation (7), methylation (13 to 15), formylation (4) and deamidation (25 to 26). From a quantitative point of view, the present work drove to the conclusion that the modulations of Lpr result from multifactorial mechanisms including the phosphorylation status of the C terminal part of PIP2;1/2;2/2;3 and of the N-terminal part of PIP1;1/1;2 and TIP aquaporins. This study proposes new molecular mechanisms implicated in Lpr regulation in response to various environmental situations.