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Dr. S.A. (Steven) Arisz

Senior postdoctoral researcher
Faculty of Science
Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences

Visiting address
  • Science Park 904
  • Room number: 207
Postal address
  • Postbus 1210
    1000 BE Amsterdam
  • Research

    Research Interest

    One of the most striking aspects of plant life is the evolved ability to cope with continuous changes in environmental conditions. Drought, soil salinity and temperature extremes impose severe stresses to which plants respond with changes in metabolism and development. Resilience in the face of environmental challenges is essential for survival in wide-ranging environments. Lipids, which form the structural basis of all membranes play key roles under stress conditions, making up the structures and regulating the functions of membranes, fine-tuning metabolic balance, and acting as cellular signals. Through such diverse functions, lipids help plants to cope with environmental stress [1]. The focus of my research interest is on the plant's responses to temperature stresses.

     

    Theme 1:

    Under stress conditions lipids act as signals through interactions with proteins

    An important class of molecules that coordinate stress responses at the cellular level are specialized membrane lipids such as phosphoinositides and phosphatidic acids (PA). The formation of these lipids is rapidly triggered upon perception of the stress condition and they are believed to act as cellular signals to regulate the stress response. However, it is generally not well understood how they function.

    One emerging paradigm is that they act by binding to specific proteins which are thus altered in subcellular localization and/or activity (Fig. 1). Aided by advances in mass spectrometry-based proteomics, an increasing number of protein targets have been discovered in plants, including protein kinases and phosphatases, transcription factors, cytoskeletal elements and metabolic enzymes. How lipid-protein interactions, in conjunction with other signaling pathways, regulate physiological responses to generate stress-tolerance, has become a central topic in plant science, and one of my major research interests [2].

    Following a novel approach, we are currently developing the potential to identify protein interactors of PA in the response to cold stress, on the proteome scale, in living cells. This may open up new avenues of research, elucidating the many regulatory and signaling functions of lipids in eukaryotic cells.

     

     

    Theme 2:

    Cold Acclimation: How Changes in Lipids Help Plants to Survive Frost

    When plants experience a period of cold (0°C-8°C), they can become more tolerant to freezing. This phenomenon, commonly known as cold acclimation, involves extensive changes in the plant, ranging from accumulations of sugars and antifreeze proteins to adjustments in growth and development. Cold acclimation is essential to survival at temperate latitudes and as such has been a long-studied subject in basic plant physiology. Membranes are important in this process since they are particularly vulnerable cellular structures at low temperature. Their integrity is jeopardized by the formation of ice crystals and the loss of liquid water from cells which causes severe dehydration. Little is known however about the mechanisms that confer resilience to plant membranes under such adverse conditions.

    Recently, we identified a novel component of freezing tolerance in the wild Arabidopsis relative Boechera stricta which lives in diverse habitats at high altitudes of the Rocky Mountains [3, 4]. From quantitative trait locus analysis of seedling freezing stress tolerance, a locus emerged containing the gene encoding Acyl-CoA:Diacylglycerol Acyltransferase 1 (DGAT1), a well-studied enzyme known to be responsible for seed oil biosynthesis. At freezing temperatures the enzyme was shown to produce oil (triacylglycerol) in leaves and to confer tolerance. Comprehensive analysis of lipids suggested that in the same process also sugar-rich lipids (oligogalactosyl-diacylglycerols) were formed which had previously been found to stabilize chloroplast membranes. Consistently with the proposed function for DGAT1, Arabidopsis plants overexpressing DGAT1 showed greater survival of freezing.

    In light of our discovery of DGAT1 as determinant of freezing tolerance, it will be interesting to further investigate how DGAT1 activity is regulated and how it imparts tolerance at low temperatures.

    These questions are subject of my current research at the Munnik lab/ Plant Cell Biology.

     

    Literature:

    [1] Hou et al. (2016) Plant Cell Env 39, 1029–1048

    [2] McLoughlin et al. (2013) Biochem J 450, 573-581 http://www.biochemj.org/content/450/3/573

    [3] Arisz et al. (2018) Plant Physiol 177, 1410-1424 http://www.plantphysiol.org/content/early/2018/06/15/pp.18.00503

    [4] Johnson (2018) Plant Physiol 177, 1350-1351 http://www.plantphysiol.org/content/plantphysiol/177/4/1350.full.pdf

    Figure 1. When plants experience stressful cold, the lipid second messenger PA accumulates in their cell membranes. Specific cytosolic target proteins bind to this lipid and thus become transiently anchored to the membrane and activated. While these lipid-protein interactions are crucial for plant survival, a reliable method to systematically search for protein binding partners is still lacking. Using the tools of chemical biology, the new, multidisciplinary 'Release and Catch' project (2021-2025) will make an attempt at capturing high-confidence target proteins of PA, in living cells.
  • CV

    Steven Arisz works as senior postdoctoral researcher at the University of Amsterdam (NL) research group Plant Cell Biology (Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences). He has studied biology at the UvA (1990-1996, cum laude) and continued as PhD-student in plant physiology, studying lipid metabolism in abiotic stress signaling of green algae and plants. This resulted in a dissertation entitled “Plant Phosphatidic Acid Metabolism in Response to Environmental Stress” (2010). After this, he did a postdoc at the lab of prof. Christa Testerink studying, among other things, lipid-protein interactions in response to salt stress (2011-2018). As of 2018, he continued as senior postdoc in the lab of dr. Teun Munnik (Plant Cell Biology, UvA). In collaboration with prof. Eric Schranz (Biosystematics group, Wageningen University), dr. Jae-Yun Heo (Gangneung-Wonju National University, Korea) and prof. Tom Mitchell-Olds (Duke University, Durham, US), Steven has conducted a research project on natural variation in freezing tolerance of Boechera stricta.

    The acquisition, October 2020, of an NWO KLEIN-1 grant for his proposal entitled 'Release and Catch! Using a light-controlled probe to uncover the signaling interactome of phosphatidic acid in the plant cold response', will allow him to start up a highly innovative research project, in collaboration with the chemistry department of the UvA Science Faculty. 

    Steven has given presentations and has been chair at conferences, is lead author of well-cited research and review articles and several book chapters, and functions frequently as peer reviewer of manuscripts and research proposals. Moreover, he enjoys teaching and helping students. Apart from his scientific work, Steven is member of the Faculty of Science Diversity Sounding Board, and seeks to contribute to raising awareness of inclusiveness and accessibility at the university, for birds of all feathers, and particularly those living with disabilities.

  • Publications

    2021

    2018

    2013

    • Arisz, S. A., & Munnik, T. (2013). Distinguishing phosphatidic acid pools from de novo synthesis, PLD, and DGK. In T. Munnik, & I. Heilmann (Eds.), Plant lipid signaling protocols (pp. 55-62). (Methods in molecular biology; Vol. 1009). Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-401-2_6 [details]
    • Arisz, S. A., & Munnik, T. (2013). Use of phospholipase A2 for the production of lysophospholipids. In T. Munnik, & I. Heilmann (Eds.), Plant lipid signaling protocols (pp. 63-68). (Methods in Molecular Biology; Vol. 1009). Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-401-2_7 [details]
    • Arisz, S. A., van Wijk, R., Roels, W., Zhu, J. K., Haring, M. A., & Munnik, T. (2013). Rapid phosphatidic acid accumulation in response to low temperature stress in Arabidopsis is generated through diacylglycerol kinase. Frontiers in Plant Science, 4, Article 1. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2013.00001 [details]
    • McLoughlin, F., Arisz, S. A., Dekker, H. L., Kramer, G., de Koster, C. G., Haring, M. A., Munnik, T., & Testerink, C. (2013). Identification of novel candidate phosphatidic acid-binding proteins involved in the salt-stress response of Arabidopsis thaliana roots. Biochemical Journal, 450(3), 573-581. https://doi.org/10.1042/BJ20121639 [details]

    2011

    • Arisz, S. A., & Munnik, T. (2011). The salt stress-induced LPA response in Chlamydomonas is produced via PLA(2) hydrolysis of DGK-generated phosphatidic acid. Journal of Lipid Research, 52(11), 2012-2020. https://doi.org/10.1194/jlr.M016873 [details]

    2010

    2009

    2003

    • Arisz, S. A., Valianpour, F., van Gennip, A. H., & Munnik, T. (2003). Substrate preference of stress-activated phospholipase D in Chlamydomonas and its contribution to PA formation. Plant Journal, 34, 595-604. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-313X.2003.01750.x

    2001

    2000

    1995

    1997

    • Meijer, H. J. G., van Himbergen, J. A. J., Arisz, S. A., Munnik, T., & Musgrave, A. (1997). Calmidazolium and mastoparan activate plc, pld and deflagellation in Chlamydomonas. In Program and abstracts of the Advanced course on Lipid Signals Chieti (Italie): Consorzio Mario Imbaro. [details]
    • Meijer, H. J. G., van Himbergen, J. A. J., Arisz, S. A., Munnik, T., & Musgrave, A. (1997). Relation between plc-, pld activity, deflagellation and calcium homeostasis in the green alga Chlamydomonas. In Abstracts of FEBS meeting on cell signalling mechanisms Amsterdam. [details]

    1996

    • Munnik, T., Arisz, S. A., ter Riet, B., van Himbergen, J. A. J., Irvine, R. F., & Musgrave, A. (1996). Phosphoinositide signalling in plant cells; G-protein activated PtdOH-formation is generated through PLC and PLD and attenuated by a novel enzyme - phosphatidate kinase. In The role of phosphoinositides in cell signaling (pp. 54-54). Madison: University of Wisconsin. [details]

    1994

    • Munnik, T., Brederoo, J., Arisz, S. A., Irvine, R. F., & Musgrave, A. (1994). Signs of phospholipase C, phospholipase D and phosphoinositide 3-kinase signalling in Chlamydomonas. In E. Harris, P. A. Lefebvre, R. Schmit, & R. Kamiya (Eds.), Program and abstracts volume. Sixth International Conference on the Cell and Molecular Biology of Chlamydomonas (pp. 39-39). Bethesda, USA: Genetics Society of America. [details]

    1999

    • Munnik, T., Meijer, H. J. G., ter Riet, B., van Himbergen, J. A. J., Arisz, S. A., den Hartog, M., ... Musgrave, A. (1999). Osmotic stress triggers distinct phospholipid-based signalling pathways in plant cells. Poster session presented at BioCentrum Fall Symposium, .
    • Munnik, T., Meijer, H. J. G., ter Riet, B., van Himbergen, J. A. J., Arisz, S. A., den Hartog, M., ... Musgrave, A. (1999). Osmotic stress triggers distinct phospholipid-based signalling pathways in plant cells. Poster session presented at Int. Congress on Cellular Responses to Oxidative and Osmotic Stress, .
    • Munnik, T., Meijer, H. J. G., ter Riet, B., van Himbergen, J. A. J., Arisz, S. A., den Hartog, M., ... Musgrave, A. (1999). Osmotic stress triggers distinct phospholipid-based signalling pathways in plant cells. Poster session presented at Int. Congress on Cellular Responses to Oxidative and Osmotic Stress, .

    2000

    • Arisz, S. A., Musgrave, A., & Munnik, T. (2000). Fatty acid fingerprinting reveals PLD's substrate during osmotic stress signalling in plants. Chemistry and physics of lipids, 107, 9-9. [details]

    Talk / presentation

    • Munnik, T. (speaker), Meijer, H. J. G. (speaker), ter Riet, B. (speaker), van Himbergen, J. A. J. (speaker), Arisz, S. A. (speaker), den Hartog, M. (speaker), van der Luit, A. H. (speaker), Laxalt, A. M. (speaker), Hirt, H. (speaker), Frank, W. (speaker), Bartels, D. (speaker), Divecha, N. (speaker) & Musgrave, A. (speaker) (18-9-2000). Osmotic stress activates distinct MAPK- and lipid signalling pathways in plants, 52nd Harden Conference, Signalling in Plants, Kent (UK).
    • Arisz, S. A. (speaker), Musgrave, A. (speaker) & Munnik, T. (speaker) (13-9-2000). Fatty acid fingerprinting reveals PLD's substrate during osmotic stress signalling in plants, Int. Conference on the Biochemistry of Lipids, Halle (Germany).
    • van Himbergen, J. A. J. (speaker), Meijer, H. J. G. (speaker), Arisz, S. A. (speaker), Musgrave, A. (speaker) & Munnik, T. (speaker) (21-5-2000). Calmidazolium and mastoparan activate PLC, PLD and deflagellation in Chlamydomonas, Chlamy 2000, Noordwijkerhout.
    • Munnik, T. (speaker), Meijer, H. J. G. (speaker), ter Riet, B. (speaker), van Himbergen, J. A. J. (speaker), Arisz, S. A. (speaker), den Hartog, M. (speaker), van der Luit, A. H. (speaker), Laxalt, A. M. (speaker), Hirt, H. (speaker), Frank, W. (speaker), Bartels, D. (speaker), Divecha, N. (speaker) & Musgrave, A. (speaker) (5-2-2000). Osmotic stress activates distinct MAPK- and lipid signalling pathways in plants, Keystone symposium on Cell Activation and Signal Transduction: Lipid second messengers IV, Taos (USA).
    • Munnik, T. (speaker), Arisz, S. A. (speaker), de Vrije, T. E. (speaker), Irvine, R. F. E. (speaker) & Musgrave, A. (speaker) (29-5-1995). Phospholipid-derived second messengers in C. eugametos, Euroconference on the experimental biology of Chlamydomonas, Amsterdam.
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  • Ancillary activities
    No ancillary activities