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Phosphorylation of style S-RNases by Ca2+-dependent protein kinases from pollen tubes

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Abstract

Solanaceous plants with gametophytic self-incompatibility produce ribonucleases in the transmitting tract of the style that interact with self-pollen and inhibit its growth. These ribonucleases are a series of allelic products of the S-locus, which controls self-incompatibility. Little is known about the pollen components involved in this interaction or whether a signal transduction pathway is activated during the self-incompatibility response. We have partially purified a soluble protein kinase from pollen tubes of Nicotiana alata that phosphorylates the self-incompatibility RNases (S-RNases) from N. alata but not Lycopersicon peruvianum. The soluble protein kinase (Nak-1) has several features shared by the calcium-dependent protein kinase (CDPK) class of plant protein kinases, including substrate specificity, calcium dependence, inhibition by the calmodulin antagonist calmidazolium, and cross-reaction with monoclonal antibodies raised to a CDPK from soybean. Phosphorylation of S 2-RNase by Nak-1 is restricted to serine residues, but the site(s) of phosphorylation has not been determined and there is no evidence for allele-specific phosphorylation. The microsomal fraction from pollen tubes also phosphorylates S-RNases and this activity may be associated with proteins of Mr∼60 K and 69 K that cross-react with the monoclonal antibody to the soybean CDPK. These results are discussed in the context of the involvement of phosphorylation in other self-incompatibility systems.

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Author notes

  1. Caroline Kunz

    Present address: Laboratoire du Métabolisme et de la Nutrition des Plantes, INRA, Centre de Versailles, Route de St-Cyr, F-78026, Versailles cedex, France

  2. Alan Chang

    Present address: Laboratoire de Biologie Cellulaire, INRA, Centre de Versailles, Route de St-Cyr, 78026, Versailles cedex, France

  3. Marilyn A. Anderson

    Present address: Department of Biochemistry, La Trobe University, 3083, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plant Cell Biology Research Centre, School of Botany, University of Melbourne, 3052, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

    Caroline Kunz, Jean-Denis Faure, Adrienne E. Clarke & Marilyn A. Anderson

  2. Department of Biochemistry, La Trobe University, 3083, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia

    Alan Chang & Gideon M. Polya

Authors
  1. Caroline Kunz
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  2. Alan Chang
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  3. Jean-Denis Faure
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  4. Adrienne E. Clarke
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  5. Gideon M. Polya
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  6. Marilyn A. Anderson
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Kunz, C., Chang, A., Faure, JD. et al. Phosphorylation of style S-RNases by Ca2+-dependent protein kinases from pollen tubes. Sexual Plant Reprod 9, 25–34 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00230363

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00230363

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