Nonsymbiotic plant haemoglobins and regulation of nitric oxide signaling

Nitric oxide (NO) is an important signaling molecule regulating gene expression during plant defence responses and in other important physiological processes like seed germination, de-etiolation, senescence and hypoxia. The mechanisms for removal of this signal are however still unknown. To investigate this function in vivo, AHb1 was cloned in the constitutive expression vector pBI-121 and Arabidopsis thaliana transgenic plants, with an increased level of AHb1, were generated. These transgenic plants with elevated NO detoxification system give the possibility to analyse the involvement of NO in several different physiological condition in order to get deeper inside the NO-dependent expression pattern.