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Protein lysine methylation contributes to modulating the response of sensitive and tolerant Arabidopsis species to cadmium stress
Author(s) -
Serre Nelson B. C.,
Sarthou Ma,
Gigarel Océane,
Figuet Sylvie,
Corso Massimiliano,
Choulet Justine,
Rofidal Valérie,
Alban Claude,
Santoni Véronique,
Bourguig Jacques,
Verbruggen Nathalie,
Ravanel Stéphane
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
plant, cell and environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.646
H-Index - 200
eISSN - 1365-3040
pISSN - 0140-7791
DOI - 10.1111/pce.13692
Subject(s) - cadmium , methylation , lysine , methyltransferase , arabidopsis , biology , histone methyltransferase , protein methylation , arabidopsis thaliana , mutant , gene , histone , biochemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , chemistry , amino acid , organic chemistry
The mechanisms underlying the response and adaptation of plants to excess of trace elements are not fully described. Here, we analysed the importance of protein lysine methylation for plants to cope with cadmium. We analysed the effect of cadmium on lysine‐methylated proteins and protein lysine methyltransferases (KMTs) in two cadmium‐sensitive species, Arabidopsis thaliana and A . lyrata , and in three populations of A . halleri with contrasting cadmium accumulation and tolerance traits. We showed that some proteins are differentially methylated at lysine residues in response to Cd and that a few genes coding KMTs are regulated by cadmium. Also, we showed that 9 out of 23 A. thaliana mutants disrupted in KMT genes have a tolerance to cadmium that is significantly different from that of wild‐type seedlings. We further characterized two of these mutants, one was knocked out in the calmodulin lysine methyltransferase gene and displayed increased tolerance to cadmium, and the other was interrupted in a KMT gene of unknown function and showed a decreased capacity to cope with cadmium. Together, our results showed that lysine methylation of non‐histone proteins is impacted by cadmium and that several methylation events are important for modulating the response of Arabidopsis plants to cadmium stress.