The evolution of plant proton pump regulation via the R domain may have facilitated plant terrestrialization

• Published in: Communications biology Vol. 5; no. 1; p. 1312
• Main Authors: Stéger, Anett, Hayashi, Maki, Lauritzen, Emil Wacenius, Herburger, Klaus, Shabala, Lana, Wang, Cuiwei, Bendtsen, Amalie Kofoed, Nørrevang, Anton Frisgaard, Madriz-Ordeñana, Kenneth, Ren, Shichao, Trinh, Mai Duy Luu, Thordal‑Christensen, Hans, Fuglsang, Anja Thoe, Shabala, Sergey, Østerberg, Jeppe Thulin, Palmgren, Michael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 29.11.2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 14; 14/19; 14/63; 42; 42/35; 42/70; 45; 45/44; 45/77; 631/449/2669; 631/449/448/2651; Adenosine Triphosphatases; Algae; Amino acids; Arabidopsis - genetics; Biological Transport; Biology; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cell Membrane; Hydrogen; Isoforms; Life Sciences; Membrane potential; Mutants; Nutrient uptake; Pests; Phylogeny; Physiology; Plant cells; Proton Pumps - genetics; Protons; Stomata; Water
• ISSN: 2399-3642; 2399-3642
• DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-04291-y

Plasma membrane (PM) H + -ATPases are the electrogenic proton pumps that export H + from plant and fungal cells to acidify the surroundings and generate a membrane potential. Plant PM H + -ATPases are equipped with a C‑terminal autoinhibitory regulatory (R) domain of about 100 amino acid residues, which could not be identified in the PM H + -ATPases of green algae but appeared fully developed in immediate streptophyte algal predecessors of land plants. To explore the physiological significance of this domain, we created in vivo C-terminal truncations of autoinhibited PM H + ‑ATPase2 (AHA2), one of the two major isoforms in the land plant Arabidopsis thaliana . As more residues were deleted, the mutant plants became progressively more efficient in proton extrusion, concomitant with increased expansion growth and nutrient uptake. However, as the hyperactivated AHA2 also contributed to stomatal pore opening, which provides an exit pathway for water and an entrance pathway for pests, the mutant plants were more susceptible to biotic and abiotic stresses, pathogen invasion and water loss, respectively. Taken together, our results demonstrate that pump regulation through the R domain is crucial for land plant fitness and by controlling growth and nutrient uptake might have been necessary already for the successful water-to-land transition of plants. Phylogenetic analyses and physiological experiments indicate that the regulatory domain of plant proton pumps could have been key in the plant transition to land from water.