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Three different and tissue-specific NAD-malic enzymes generated by alternative subunit association in Arabidopsis thaliana.

ABSTRACT: The Arabidopsis thaliana genome contains two genes encoding the mitochondrial NAD-malic enzyme (NAD-ME), NAD-ME1 (At2g13560) and NAD-ME2 (At4g00570). The characterization of recombinant NAD-ME1 and -2 indicated that both enzymes assemble as active homodimers; however, a heterodimeric enzyme (NAD-MEH) can also be detected by electrophoretic studies. To analyze the metabolic contribution of each enzymatic entity, NAD-MEH was obtained by a co-expression-based recombinant approach, and its kinetic and regulatory properties were analyzed. The three NAD-MEs show similar kinetic properties, although they differ in the regulation by several metabolic effectors. In this regard, whereas fumarate activates NAD-ME1 and CoA activates NAD-ME2, both compounds act synergistically on NAD-MEH activity. The characterization of two chimeric enzymes between NAD-ME1 and -2 allowed specific domains of the primary structure, which are involved in the differential allosteric regulation, to be identified. NAD-ME1 and -2 subunits showed a distinct pattern of accumulation in the separate components of the floral organ. In sepals, the NAD-ME1 subunit is present at a slightly higher proportion than the NAD-ME2 subunit, and thus, NAD-MEH and NAD-ME1 act in concert in this tissue. On the other hand, NAD-ME2 is the only isoform present in anthers. In view of the different properties of NAD-ME1, -2, and -H, we suggest that mitochondrial NAD-ME activity may be regulated by varying native association in vivo, rendering enzymatic entities with distinct allosteric regulation to fulfill specific roles. The presence of three different NAD-ME entities, which originate by alternative associations of two subunits, is suggested to be a novel phenomenon unique to plant mitochondria.

SUBMITTER: Tronconi MA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2852924 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundIn all domains of life, transfer RNA (tRNA) molecules contain modified nucleosides. Modifications to tRNAs affect their coding capacity and influence codon-anticodon interactions. Nucleoside modification deficiencies have a diverse range of effects, from decreased virulence in bacteria, neural system disease in human, and gene expression and stress response changes in plants. The purpose of this study was to identify genes involved in tRNA modification in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, to understand the function of nucleoside modifications in plant growth and development.ResultsIn this study, we established a method for analyzing modified nucleosides in tRNAs from the model plant species, Arabidopsis thaliana and hybrid aspen (Populus tremula × tremuloides). 21 modified nucleosides in tRNAs were identified in both species. To identify the genes responsible for the plant tRNA modifications, we performed global analysis of the Arabidopsis genome for candidate genes. Based on the conserved domains of homologs in Sacccharomyces cerevisiae and Escherichia coli, more than 90 genes were predicted to encode tRNA modifying enzymes in the Arabidopsis genome. Transcript accumulation patterns for the genes in Arabidopsis and the phylogenetic distribution of the genes among different plant species were investigated. Transcripts for the majority of the Arabidopsis candidate genes were found to be most abundant in rosette leaves and shoot apices. Whereas most of the tRNA modifying gene families identified in the Arabidopsis genome was found to be present in other plant species, there was a big variation in the number of genes present for each family.Through a loss of function mutagenesis study, we identified five tRNA modification genes (AtTRM10, AtTRM11, AtTRM82, AtKTI12 and AtELP1) responsible for four specific modified nucleosides (m1G, m2G, m7G and ncm5U), respectively (two genes: AtKTI12 and AtELP1 identified for ncm5U modification). The AtTRM11 mutant exhibited an early-flowering phenotype, and the AtELP1 mutant had narrow leaves, reduced root growth, an aberrant silique shape and defects in the generation of secondary shoots.ConclusionsUsing a reverse genetics approach, we successfully isolated and identified five tRNA modification genes in Arabidopsis thaliana. We conclude that the method established in this study will facilitate the identification of tRNA modification genes in a wide variety of plant species.

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Three different and tissue-specific NAD-malic enzymes generated by alternative subunit association in Arabidopsis thaliana.

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