Functional analysis of two genes encoding arginine decarboxylase and polyamines in Arabidopsis

Abstract

The polyamines (PAs) - putrescine (Put), spermidine (Spd), spermine (Spm) are polycationic cellular molecules, ubiquitous in living organisms. Several studies have indicated that PAs are implicated in several cellular processes. However the specific physiological roles of PAs under water stresses in plant are not well understood. In whole genome of Arabidopsis, there were 10 genes supposed to be involved in PA biosynthesis and their expression patterns under stress were separated into stress-inducible, constitutive, and stress-repressible. In these genes, we focused arginine decarboxylase (ADC) that related to Put biosynthesis. Put functions as not only PAs but also precursor for next PAs. We report tissue specific expression and cellular localization of ADC and phenotypic analysis of adc2 Ds-tagged mutant in abiotic stress response.