Mutations in two putative phosphorylation motifs in the tomato pollen receptor kinase LePRK2 show antagonistic effects on pollen tube length

The tip-growing pollen tube is a useful model for studying polarized cell growth in plants. We previously characterized LePRK2, a pollen-specific receptor-like kinase from tomato (1). Here, we showed that LePRK2 is present as multiple phosphorylated isoforms in mature pollen membranes. Using compara...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Salem, T., Mazzella, A., Barberini, M.L., Wengier, D., Motillo, V., Parisi, G., Muschietti, J.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2011
País:Argentina
Institución:Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales
Repositorio:Biblioteca Digital (UBA-FCEN)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:paperaa:paper_00219258_v286_n6_p4882_Salem
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_00219258_v286_n6_p4882_Salem
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Amino acids
Enzymes
Fruits
Phosphorylation
Tubes (components)
Alanine substitution
Antagonistic effects
Comparative sequence analysis
Cytoplasmic juxtamembrane
Phosphorylation sites
Polarized cell growth
Receptor-like kinase
Site directed mutagenesis
Plants (botany)
alanine
cell surface receptor
protein LePRK2
serine
threonine
unclassified drug
protein kinase
vegetable protein
amino acid substitution
article
controlled study
gene overexpression
growth regulation
mutation
nonhuman
phenotype
pollen tube growth
priority journal
protein dephosphorylation
protein expression
protein function
protein motif
protein phosphorylation
protein processing
sequence analysis
site directed mutagenesis
tomato
enzymology
genetics
growth, development and aging
metabolism
pollen tube
Lycopersicon esculentum
Nicotiana tabacum
Amino Acid Motifs
Mutagenesis, Site-Directed
Mutation
Plant Proteins
Pollen Tube
Protein Kinases
Descripción
Sumario:The tip-growing pollen tube is a useful model for studying polarized cell growth in plants. We previously characterized LePRK2, a pollen-specific receptor-like kinase from tomato (1). Here, we showed that LePRK2 is present as multiple phosphorylated isoforms in mature pollen membranes. Using comparative sequence analysis and phosphorylation site prediction programs, we identified two putative phosphorylation motifs in the cytoplasmic juxtamembrane (JM) domain. Site-directed mutagenesis in these motifs, followed by transient overexpression in tobacco pollen, showed that both motifs have opposite effects in regulating pollen tube length. Relative to LePRK2-eGFP pollen tubes, alanine substitutions in residues of motif I, Ser277/Ser279/ Ser282, resulted in longer pollen tubes, but alanine substitutions in motif II, Ser304/Ser307/Thr308, resulted in shorter tubes. In contrast, phosphomimicking aspartic substitutions at these residues gave reciprocal results, that is, shorter tubes with mutations in motif I and longer tubes with mutations in motif II. We conclude that the length of pollen tubes can be negatively and positively regulated by phosphorylation of residues in motif I and II respectively. We also showed that LePRK2-eGFP significantly decreased pollen tube length and increased pollen tube tip width, relative to eGFP tubes. The kinase activity of LePRK2 was relevant for this phenotype because tubes that expressed a mutation in a lysine essential for kinase activity showed the same length and width as the eGFP control. Taken together, these results suggest that LePRK2 may have a central role in pollen tube growth through regulation of its own phosphorylation status. © 2011 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.