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Deficiency of adenosine kinase activity affects the degree of pectin methyl-esterification in cell walls of Arabidopsis thaliana

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Abstract

Pectin methyl-esterification is catalysed by S-adenosyl-l-methionine (SAM)-dependent methyltransferases. As deficiency in adenosine kinase (ADK; EC 2.7.1.20) activity impairs SAM recycling and utilization, we investigated the relationship between ADK-deficiency and the degree of pectin methyl-esterification in cell walls of Arabidopsis thaliana. The distribution patterns of epitopes associated with methyl-esterified homogalacturonan in leaves and hypocotyls of wild-type (WT) and ADK-deficient plants were examined using immunolocalization and biochemical techniques. JIM5 and LM7 epitopes, characteristic of low esterified pectins, were more irregularly distributed along the cell wall in ADK-deficient plants than in WT cell walls. In addition, epitopes recognized by JIM7, characteristic of pectins with a higher degree of methyl-esterification, were less abundant in ADK-deficient leaves and hypocotyls. Since de-esterified pectins have enhanced adhesion properties, we propose that the higher abundance and the altered distribution of low methyl-esterified pectin in ADK-deficient cell walls lead to the leaf shape abnormalities observed in these plants.

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Abbreviations

ADK:

Adenosine kinase

Ado:

Adenosine

AMAC:

2-Aminoacridone

DM:

Degree of methyl-esterification

Endo-PG:

Endo-polygalacturonase

FITC:

Fluorescein isothiocyanate

Hcy:

Homocysteine

GalA:

Galacturonic acid

HGA:

Homogalacturonan

MT:

Methyltransferase

PACE:

Polysaccharide analysis using carbohydrate gel electrophoresis

PBS:

Phosphate-buffered saline

PME:

Pectin methyl esterase

SAH:

S-Adenosyl-l-homocysteine

SAM:

S-Adenosyl-l-methionine

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a grant to B. Moffatt from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. L.A.R. Pereira was supported by a scholarship from the Brazilian Council of Research (CNPq). Nick Carpita and Maria Peña (Purdue University, USA) provided the materials, equipment and enthusiastic instruction for the GC/MS analysis of cell walls. PACE analysis was supported by grants from the BBSRC. We thank Syngene (Cambridge, UK) for the gift of the GeneTools software used to quantify the PACE gels, John Ramunas (Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo) for carrying out the leaf stiffness analyses and Luke Martin-McCaffery for assays of pectin in cell wall extracts.

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  1. L. A. R. Pereira

    Present address: Department of Botany, University of Brasilia, Brasilia, Brazil

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    L. A. R. Pereira, S. Schoor & B. A. Moffatt

  2. Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    F. Goubet & P. Dupree

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  1. L. A. R. Pereira
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  2. S. Schoor
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  3. F. Goubet
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  5. B. A. Moffatt
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Correspondence to B. A. Moffatt.

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Pereira, L.A.R., Schoor, S., Goubet, F. et al. Deficiency of adenosine kinase activity affects the degree of pectin methyl-esterification in cell walls of Arabidopsis thaliana . Planta 224, 1401–1414 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-006-0323-z

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