Aminopropyltransferases involved in polyamine biosynthesis localize preferentially in the nucleus of plant cells

PLoS One. 2012;7(10):e46907. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0046907. Epub 2012 Oct 8.

Abstract

Plant aminopropyltransferases consist of a group of enzymes that transfer aminopropyl groups derived from decarboxylated S-adenosyl-methionine (dcAdoMet or dcSAM) to propylamine acceptors to produce polyamines, ubiquitous metabolites with positive charge at physiological pH. Spermidine synthase (SPDS) uses putrescine as amino acceptor to form spermidine, whereas spermine synthase (SPMS) and thermospermine synthase (TSPMS) use spermidine as acceptor to synthesize the isomers spermine and thermospermine respectively. In previous work it was shown that both SPDS1 and SPDS2 can physically interact with SPMS although no data concerning the subcellular localization was reported. Here we study the subcellular localization of these enzymes and their protein dimer complexes with gateway-based Bimolecular Fluorescence Complementation (BiFC) binary vectors. In addition, we have characterized the molecular weight of the enzyme complexes by gel filtration chromatography with in vitro assembled recombinant enzymes and with endogenous plant protein extracts. Our data suggest that aminopropyltransferases display a dual subcellular localization both in the cytosol and nuclear enriched fractions, and they assemble preferably as dimers. The BiFC transient expression data suggest that aminopropyltransferase heterodimer complexes take place preferentially inside the nucleus.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Active Transport, Cell Nucleus
  • Arabidopsis / cytology*
  • Arabidopsis / enzymology*
  • Arabidopsis / metabolism
  • Cell Nucleus / enzymology
  • Cell Nucleus / metabolism*
  • Cytosol / enzymology
  • Molecular Weight
  • Polyamines / metabolism*
  • Spermidine Synthase / chemistry
  • Spermidine Synthase / metabolism*

Substances

  • Polyamines
  • Spermidine Synthase

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants BIO2008-05493-C02-02 and BIO2009-11818 from Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación to A. Ferrando. B. Belda-Palazón is a recipient of a VALi+d predoctoral contract of Generalitat Valenciana ACIF2010/085. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.