Protein Prenylation in Plant Stress Responses

Abstract

Protein prenylation is one of the most important posttranslational modifications of proteins. Prenylated proteins play important roles in different developmental processes as well as stress responses in plants as the addition of hydrophobic prenyl chains (mostly farnesyl or geranyl) allow otherwise hydrophilic proteins to operate as peripheral lipid membrane proteins. This review focuses on selected aspects connecting protein prenylation with plant responses to both abiotic and biotic stresses. It summarizes how changes in protein prenylation impact plant growth, deals with several families of proteins involved in stress response and highlights prominent regulatory importance of prenylated small GTPases and chaperons. Potential possibilities of these proteins to be applicable for biotechnologies are discussed.

Geranylgeranylacetone reduces cardiomyocyte stiffness and attenuates diastolic dysfunction in a rat model of cardiometabolic syndrome

“…Taken together, these findings demonstrate that small HSPs bind the myofilaments in human cardiomyocytes, and this binding is enhanced by GGA. The GGA‐induced redistribution of HSPs is characteristic of HSP activation (Guo et al, 2012; Snoeckx et al, 2001) and can be induced by geranylgeranylation (Hála & Žárský, 2019). As GGA is a structural homologue of the geranylgeranyl donor geranylgeranyl‐pyrophosphate (GGPP) (Hashimoto et al, 2005), which influences intracellular protein trafficking (Pronk et al, 2019), it is anticipated that GGA‐induced HSP redistribution results from protein geranylgeranylation.…”

“…In addition to expression, GGA influences intracellular protein trafficking and cytoskeletal structure by changing protein prenylation (Hashimoto et al, 2005). Prenylation is an important mechanism for regulation of heat shock proteins (Hála & Žárský, 2019).…”

Isolation of novel cold-tolerance genes from rhizosphere microorganisms of Antarctic plants by functional metagenomics

“…Specifically, previous transcriptomic and proteomic analysis have demonstrated the relevant role of ABC transporters on cold adaptation due to their ability to import/ export a variety of different molecules across the cytoplasmic and outer membranes that may be reused for de novo synthesis of different nutrients and metabolites that are essential for cold acclimation (Phadtare and Inouye, 2004;Mykytczuk et al, 2011;Koh et al, 2017). On the other hand, isoprenylcysteine carboxyl methyltransferases (ICMTs) are proteins responsible for the last step of a post-translational modification termed prenylation that can affect numerous proteins, favoring a better association of proteins to cellular membranes, protein-protein interactions, and protein stability (Zhang and Casey, 1996;Hála and Žárský, 2019). Recently, plant studies supported a possible connection between protein prenylation and its response to both abiotic and biotic stress conditions (Hála and Žárský, 2019).…”

“…On the other hand, isoprenylcysteine carboxyl methyltransferases (ICMTs) are proteins responsible for the last step of a post-translational modification termed prenylation that can affect numerous proteins, favoring a better association of proteins to cellular membranes, protein-protein interactions, and protein stability (Zhang and Casey, 1996;Hála and Žárský, 2019). Recently, plant studies supported a possible connection between protein prenylation and its response to both abiotic and biotic stress conditions (Hála and Žárský, 2019).…”

The blast effector Pwl2 is a virulence factor that modifies the cellular localisation of host protein HIPP43 to suppress immunity

“…These proteins can be broadly separated into two families, heavy metal-associated plant proteins (HPPs), and heavy-metal associated isoprenylated plant proteins (HIPPs), of which the latter possess a C-terminal isoprenylation motif (CaaX, where ‘a’ represents an aliphatic residue and ‘X’ is any amino acid) important for anchoring to membranes (19). The rice sHMA protein Pi21 is a disease susceptibility factor, with rice lines expressing this protein exhibiting delayed defence responses to rice blast (19, 20). This has led to the use of loss-of-function alleles of pi21 , as a recessive form of rice blast resistance in breeding programs (20).…”