This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Malmberg, R. L. Articles by Cellino, M. L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Malmberg, R. L. Articles by Cellino, M. L. Agricola Articles by Malmberg, R. L. Articles by Cellino, M. L.

Metabolism and Enzymology

Arginine Decarboxylase of Oats Is Clipped from a Precursor into Two Polypeptides Found in the Soluble Enzyme ¹

Botany Department, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602

We have examined soluble oat (Avena sativa) arginine decarboxylase by probing its structure with polyclonal antibodies that separately recognize amino-terminal and carboxyl-terminal antigens and with a monoclonal antibody that immunoprecipitates enzyme activity. These experiments indicated that oat arginine decarboxylase is clipped from a 66,000-D precursor polypeptide into 42,000- and 24,000-D produce polypeptides. Both of these are found in the enzyme and may be held together by disulfide bonds. A full-length precursor protein could not be detected in plants but could be produced by expression of the cDNA in Escherichia coli. Analysis of the expression of the cDNA in E. coli, with antibodies and using pulse labeling with [³⁵S]methionine, indicated that the bulk of the expressed protein was the full-length 66,000-D form. Small amounts of 42,000- and 24,000-D polypeptides could also be detected. A reconstruction experiment, adding a radioactively labeled full-length protein isolated from E. coli to powdered oat leaves, supported the idea that the protein extraction method used for western blots was not likely to result in artifactual proteolytic degradation.

¹ Supported by National Science Foundation grant DCB-87-15799, by U.S. Department competitive grant GAM-89-01056, and by Department of Energy grant DEFG09-91ER20034.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T. Capell, L. Bassie, and P. Christou Modulation of the polyamine biosynthetic pathway in transgenic rice confers tolerance to drought stress PNAS, June 29, 2004; 101(26): 9909 - 9914. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]