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Reduction in the endogenous arginine decarboxylase transcript levels in rice leads to depletion of the putrescine and spermidine pools with no concomitant changes in the expression of downstream genes in the polyamine biosynthetic pathway

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Abstract

We investigated whether down-regulation of arginine decarboxylase (ADC) activity and concomitant changes in polyamine levels result in changes in the expression of downstream genes in the polyamine pathway. We generated transgenic rice (Oryza sativa L.) plants in which the rice adc gene was down-regulated by expression of its antisense oat (Avena sativa L.) ortholog. Plants expressed the oat mRNA adc transcript at different levels. The endogenous transcript was down-regulated in five out of eight plant lineages we studied in detail. Reduction in the steady-state rice adc mRNA levels resulted in a concomitant decrease in ADC activity. The putrescine and spermidine pool was significantly reduced in plants with lower ADC activity. Expression of the rice ornithine decarboxylase (odc), S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (samdc) and spermidine synthase (spd syn) transcripts was not affected. We demonstrate that even though levels of the key metabolites in the pathway were compromised, this did not influence steady-state transcription levels of the other genes involved in the pathway. Our results provide an insight into the different regulatory mechanisms that control gene expression in the polyamine biosynthetic pathway in plants by demonstrating that the endogenous pathway is uncoupled from manipulations that modulate polyamine levels by expression of orthologous transgenes.

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Abbreviations

ADC (adc):

arginine decarboxylase protein (gene)

DIG:

digoxigenin

ODC (odc):

ornithine decarboxylase protein (gene)

SAMDC (samdc):

adenosylmethionine decarboxylase protein (gene)

SPD SYN (spd syn):

spermidine synthase protein (gene)

RT–PCR:

reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction

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Acknowledgements

We thank R. Malmberg, T. Michael, H. Bohnert and T. Sasaki for the kind gift of the cDNAs, J. Dix for graphic design and E. Aguado for maintaining plants. Pham Trung-Nghia and Pham Thu-Hang were supported by Rockefeller Foundation Fellowships.

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Author notes

  1. Pham Trung-Nghia

    Present address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Durham, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK

  2. Gehan Safwat

    Present address: John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7UH, UK

  3. Olivia Lepri

    Present address: John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7UH, UK

  4. Pham Thu-Hang

    Present address: Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK

  5. Pedro Rocha

    Present address: CENIPALMA, Calle 21 No 42C–47, Bogotá, Colombia

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Crop Genetics and Biotechnology, Fraunhofer IME, Auf dem Aberg 1, 57392, Schmallenberg, Germany

    Pham Trung-Nghia, Ludovic Bassie, Gehan Safwat, Pham Thu-Hang, Olivia Lepri, Pedro Rocha, Paul Christou & Teresa Capell

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  1. Pham Trung-Nghia
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  2. Ludovic Bassie
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Correspondence to Teresa Capell.

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Trung-Nghia, P., Bassie, L., Safwat, G. et al. Reduction in the endogenous arginine decarboxylase transcript levels in rice leads to depletion of the putrescine and spermidine pools with no concomitant changes in the expression of downstream genes in the polyamine biosynthetic pathway. Planta 218, 125–134 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-003-1079-3

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