Current overview of S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO) in higher plants

Abstract

S-nitrosoglutathione is a nitric oxide-derived molecule, generated by the interaction of nitric oxide (NO) with reduced glutathione (GSH) in a process called S-nitrosylation (Figure 1). The reaction appears to take place either through the formation of N2O3 or the addition of NO to a glutathionyl radical formed during this reaction (Broniowska et al., 2013). GSNO is regarded as an intracellular NO reservoir as well as a vehicle of NO throughout the cell, which enables NO biological activity to expand. GSNO is also considered to be the most abundant low-molecular-mass (LMM) S-nitrosothiol (SNO). This family includes other molecules such as S-nitrosocysteine (CySNO) and S-nitrosocysteinylglycine (GlyCySNO), which have been the subject of less study in the field of plant research. There is another group of SNOs called high-molecular mass (HMM) SNOs which are produced by NO binding to sulfhydryl (-SH) groups present in specific cysteine residues of proteins. Figure 1 shows a simple model of GSNO metabolism and its interactions with other molecules in cells where different reactions including S-nitrosylation, S-transnitrosation, and S-glutathionylation are involved (Hogg, 2002; Martínez-Ruiz and Lamas, 2007). In plants, research has focused on the importance of total SNOs in specific stress situations (Feechan et al., 2005; Chaki et al., 2011a) and on the identification of the potential protein targets of S-nitrosylation as this kind of post-translational modification can alter the function of the affected proteins (Astier et al., 2012). Initial studies in this area exogenously applied GSNO in order to identify the pool of potential protein candidates (Lindermayr et al., 2005). However, less attention has been paid to the abundance, distribution, and modulation of endogenous GSNO under natural and stress conditions. In this article, we will provide a current overview of GSNO in higher plants. [EN]