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Natural variation allows the investigation of both the fundamental functions of genes and their role in local adaptation. As one of the essential macronutrients, sulfur is vital for plant growth and development and also for crop yield and quality. Selenium and sulfur are assimilated by the same process, and although plants do not require selenium, plant-based selenium is an important source of this essential element for animals. Here, we report the use of linkage mapping in synthetic F2 populations and complementation to investigate the genetic architecture of variation in total leaf sulfur and selenium concentrations in a diverse set of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) accessions. We identify in accessions collected from Sweden and the Czech Republic two variants of the enzyme ADENOSINE 5′-PHOSPHOSULFATE REDUCTASE2 (APR2) with strongly diminished catalytic capacity. APR2 is a key enzyme in both sulfate and selenate reduction, and its reduced activity in the loss-of-function allele apr2-1 and the two Arabidopsis accessions Hodonín and Shahdara leads to a lowering of sulfur flux from sulfate into the reduced sulfur compounds, cysteine and glutathione, and into proteins, concomitant with an increase in the accumulation of sulfate in leaves. We conclude from our observation, and the previously identified weak allele of APR2 from the Shahdara accession collected in Tadjikistan, that the catalytic capacity of APR2 varies by 4 orders of magnitude across the Arabidopsis species range, driving significant differences in sulfur and selenium metabolism. The selective benefit, if any, of this large variation remains to be explored.

Enzymes of the sulfur assimilation pathway are potential targets for improving nutrient content and environmental stress responses in plants. The committed step in this pathway is catalyzed by ATP sulfurylase, which synthesizes adenosine 5′-phosphosulfate (APS) from sulfate and ATP. To better understand the molecular basis of this energetically unfavorable reaction, the x-ray crystal structure of ATP sulfurylase isoform 1 from soybean (Glycine max ATP sulfurylase) in complex with APS was determined. This structure revealed several highly conserved substrate-binding motifs in the active site and a distinct dimerization interface compared with other ATP sulfurylases but was similar to mammalian 3′-phosphoadenosine 5′-phosphosulfate synthetase. Steady-state kinetic analysis of 20 G. max ATP sulfurylase point mutants suggests a reaction mechanism in which nucleophilic attack by sulfate on the α-phosphate of ATP involves transition state stabilization by Arg-248, Asn-249, His-255, and Arg-349. The structure and kinetic analysis suggest that ATP sulfurylase overcomes the energetic barrier of APS synthesis by distorting nucleotide structure and identifies critical residues for catalysis. Mutations that alter sulfate assimilation in Arabidopsis were mapped to the structure, which provides a molecular basis for understanding their effects on the sulfur assimilation pathway.

Sulfur is an essential macronutrient for all living organisms. Plants take up inorganic sulfate from the soil, reduce it, and assimilate it into bioorganic compounds, but part of this sulfate is stored in the vacuoles. In our first attempt to identify genes involved in the control of sulfate content in the leaves, we reported that a quantitative trait locus (QTL) for sulfate content in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) was underlain by the APR2 isoform of the key enzyme of sulfate assimilation, adenosine 5'-phosphosulfate reductase. To increase the knowledge of the control of this trait, we cloned a second QTL from the same analysis. Surprisingly, the gene underlying this QTL encodes the ATPS1 isoform of the enzyme ATP sulfurylase, which precedes adenosine 5'-phosphosulfate reductase in the sulfate assimilation pathway. Plants with the Bay allele of ATPS1 accumulate lower steady-state levels of ATPS1 transcript than those with the Sha allele, which leads to lower enzyme activity and, ultimately, the accumulation of sulfate. Our results show that the transcript variation is controlled in cis. Examination of ATPS1 sequences of Bay-0 and Shahdara identified two deletions in the first intron and immediately downstream the gene in Bay-0 shared with multiple other Arabidopsis accessions. The average ATPS1 transcript levels are lower in these accessions than in those without the deletions, while sulfate levels are significantly higher. Thus, sulfate content in Arabidopsis is controlled by two genes encoding subsequent enzymes in the sulfate assimilation pathway but using different mechanisms, variation in amino acid sequence and variation in expression levels.

Sulfur is an essential nutrient for all organisms. Plants are able to take up inorganic sulfate and assimilate it into a range of bio-organic molecules either after reduction to sulfide or activation to 3′-phosphoadenosine 5′-phosphosulfate. While the regulation of the reductive part of sulfate assimilation and the synthesis of cysteine has been studied extensively in the past three decades, much less attention has been paid to the control of synthesis of sulfated compounds. Only recently the genes and enzymes activating sulfate and transferring it onto suitable acceptors have been investigated in detail with emphasis on understanding the diversity of the sulfotransferase gene family and the control of partitioning of sulfur between the two branches of sulfate assimilation. Here, the recent progress in our understanding of these processes will be summarized.