The levels of endogenous polyamines have been shown to increase in plant cells challenged with low temperature; however, the functions of polyamines in the regulation of cold stress responses are unknown. Here, we show that the accumulation of putrescine under cold stress is essential for proper cold acclimation and survival at freezing temperatures because Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) mutants defective in putrescine biosynthesis (adc1, adc2) display reduced freezing tolerance compared to wild-type plants. Genes ADC1 and ADC2 show different transcriptional profiles upon cold treatment; however, they show similar and redundant contributions to cold responses in terms of putrescine accumulation kinetics and freezing sensitivity. Our data also demonstrate that detrimental consequences of putrescine depletion during cold stress are due, at least in part, to alterations in the levels of abscisic acid (ABA). Reduced expression of NCED3, a key gene involved in ABA biosynthesis, and down-regulation of ABA-regulated genes are detected in both adc1 and adc2 mutant plants under cold stress. Complementation analysis of adc mutants with ABA and reciprocal complementation tests of the aba2-3 mutant with putrescine support the conclusion that putrescine controls the levels of ABA in response to low temperature by modulating ABA biosynthesis and gene expression.

Arabidopsis Snf1‐related protein kinases (SnRKs) are implicated in pleiotropic regulation of metabolic, hormonal and stress responses through their interaction with the kinase inhibitor PRL1 WD‐protein. Here we show that SKP1/ASK1, a conserved SCF (Skp1‐cullin‐F‐box) ubiquitin ligase subunit, which suppresses the skp1‐4 mitotic defect in yeast, interacts with the PRL1‐binding C‐terminal domains of SnRKs. The same SnRK domains recruit an SKP1/ASK1‐binding proteasomal protein, α4/PAD1, which enhances the formation of a trimeric SnRK complex with SKP1/ASK1 in vitro . By contrast, PRL1 reduces the interaction of SKP1/ASK1 with SnRKs. SKP1/ASK1 is co‐immunoprecipitated with a cullin SCF subunit (AtCUL1) and an SnRK kinase, but not with PRL1 from Arabidopsis cell extracts. SKP1/ASK1, cullin and proteasomal α‐subunits show nuclear co‐localization in differentiated Arabidopsis cells, and are observed in association with mitotic spindles and phragmoplasts during cell division. Detection of SnRK in purified 26S proteasomes and co‐purification of epitope‐ tagged SKP1/ASK1 with SnRK, cullin and proteasomal α‐subunits indicate that the observed protein interactions between SnRK, SKP1/ASK1 and α4/PAD1 are involved in proteasomal binding of an SCF ubiquitin ligase in Arabidopsis .

The conversion of putrescine to spermidine in the biosynthetic pathway of plant polyamines is catalyzed by two closely related spermidine synthases, SPDS1 and SPDS2, in Arabidopsis. In the yeast two-hybrid system, SPDS2 was found to interact with SPDS1 and a novel protein, SPMS (spermine synthase), which is homologous with SPDS2 and SPDS1. SPMS interacts with both SPDS1 and SPDS2 in yeast and in vitro. Unlike SPDS1 and SPDS2, SPMS failed to suppress the speΔ3 deficiency of spermidine synthase in yeast. However, SPMS was able to complement the speΔ4 spermine deficiency in yeast, indicating that SPMS is a novel spermine synthase. The SPDS and SPMS proteins showed no homodimerization but formed heterodimers in vitro. Pairwise coexpression of hemagglutinin- and c-Myc epitope–labeled proteins in Arabidopsis cells confirmed the existence of coimmunoprecipitating SPDS1-SPDS2 and SDPS2-SPMS heterodimers in vivo. The epitope-labeled SPDS and SPMS proteins copurified with protein complexes ranging in size from 650 to 750 kD. Our data demonstrate the existence of a metabolon involving at least the last two steps of polyamine biosynthesis in Arabidopsis.

Plant aminopropyltransferases consist of a group of enzymes that transfer aminopropyl groups derived from decarboxylated S-adenosyl-methionine (dcAdoMet or dcSAM) to propylamine acceptors to produce polyamines, ubiquitous metabolites with positive charge at physiological pH. Spermidine synthase (SPDS) uses putrescine as amino acceptor to form spermidine, whereas spermine synthase (SPMS) and thermospermine synthase (TSPMS) use spermidine as acceptor to synthesize the isomers spermine and thermospermine respectively. In previous work it was shown that both SPDS1 and SPDS2 can physically interact with SPMS although no data concerning the subcellular localization was reported. Here we study the subcellular localization of these enzymes and their protein dimer complexes with gateway-based Bimolecular Fluorescence Complementation (BiFC) binary vectors. In addition, we have characterized the molecular weight of the enzyme complexes by gel filtration chromatography with in vitro assembled recombinant enzymes and with endogenous plant protein extracts. Our data suggest that aminopropyltransferases display a dual subcellular localization both in the cytosol and nuclear enriched fractions, and they assemble preferably as dimers. The BiFC transient expression data suggest that aminopropyltransferase heterodimer complexes take place preferentially inside the nucleus.