The Catecholamine Biosynthesis Route in Potato Is Affected by Stress
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Plant Physiology and Biochemistry 42 (2004) 593–600 www.elsevier.com/locate/plaphy Original article The catecholamine biosynthesis route in potato is affected by stress Anna S´wiVdrych a, Katarzyna Lorenc-Kukuła a, Aleksandra Skirycz a, Jan Szopa a,b,* a Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Wrocław, Przybyszewskiego Street 63/77, 51-148 Wrocław, Poland b Department of Plant Physiology, University of Szczecin, Waa˛ska Street 13, 71-415 Szczecin, Poland Received 16 April 2004; accepted 6 July 2004 Available online 29 July 2004 Abstract The catecholamine compounds in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) leaves and tubers have been identified by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) measurements. The finding that the catecholamine level is dramatically increased upon tyrosine decarboxylase (TD) overexpression potentiates the investigation on their physiological significance in plants. It was then evidenced that catecholamines play an important role in regulation of starch–sucrose conversion in plants. In this paper we investigated catecholamine biosynthetic pathway in potato plants exposed to the different stress conditions. The activation of TD (EC 4.1.1.25), tyrosine hydroxylase (TH, EC 1.14.18.1) and L-Dopa decarboxylase (DD, EC 4.1.1.25) was a characteristic feature of the potato leaves treated with abscisic acid (ABA). In high salt condition only TD activity was increased and in drought both TH and DD were activated. UV light activated predominantly DD activity. Leaves of plants grown in the dark and in red light circumstances were characterized by significantly decreased activities of all the three enzymes whereas those grown in cold were characterized by the decreased activity of DD only. In all, stress conditions the normetanephrine level and thus catecholamine catabolism was significantly decreased. Increased catecholamine level in TD-overexpressing potato resulted in enhanced pathogen resistance. Our data suggest that plant catecholamines are involved in plant responses towards biotic and abiotic stresses. It has to be pointed out that this is the first report proposing catecholamine as new stress agent compounds in plants. © 2004 Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved. Keywords: Catecholamines; L-Dopa decarboxylase; Tyrosine decarboxylase; Tyrosine hydroxylase; Solanum tuberosum; Stress response; Transgenic potato plant 1. Introduction metabolism. Mobilization of glycogen is accompanied by inhibition of glycogen synthesis. Such double control pre- Catecholamines are a group of biogenic amines possess- vents futile cycles to take place. The physiological action of ing a 3,4-dihydroxysubstituted-phenyl ring. Dopamine, catecholamines in animal cells is mediated by their interac- norepinephrine, epinephrine and their derivatives are wide- tion with G-protein coupled receptors that stimulate or in- spread in animals and have also been identified by gas chro- hibit the enzyme adenylyl cyclase (AC). In most animal cells matography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in po- cyclic AMP (cAMP) exerts its effect by activating cAMP- tato plant [18]. dependent, serine–threonine protein kinase (PKA). Both epi- The biochemical role of catecholamines in animal cells is nephrine and norepinephrine are synthesized and released well studied. They act as neurotransmitters but the best- from the medulla of the mammalian adrenal gland. understood example of the hormonal action of epinephrine The biosynthesis of catecholamine is initiated onto two and norepinephrine in mammals is regulation of glycogen ways starting from tyrosine. Hydroxylation of tyrosine by tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) or tyrosine decarboxylation by tyrosine decarboxylase (TD) is the initial step followed by dopamine hydroxylation to norepinephrine and subsequent Abbréviations: ABA, abscisic acid; DD, L-Dopa decarboxylase; GC- methylation to epinephrine. It should be pointed out that TD MS, gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry; SA, salicylic acid; L TD, tyrosine decarboxylase; TH, tyrosine hydroxylase. is also suggested to conduct -3,4-dihydroxy phenyl alanin * Corresponding author. (L-Dopa) decarboxylation [2]. Catecholamine catabolism E-mail address: [email protected] (J. Szopa). starts via methylation of the hydroxyl group of the catechol 0981-9428/$ - see front matter © 2004 Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.plaphy.2004.07.002 594 A. S´wiVdrych et al. / Plant Physiology and Biochemistry 42 (2004) 593–600 ring followed by oxidation to homovanillic acid and vanillyl- In this report we have presented the data on catecholamine mandelic acid and ends by secretion via urine [14]. content and key enzyme activities of catecholamine biosyn- The careful analysis of potato plant extract by sensitive thetic pathway under different stress conditions. Also the GC-MS method confirmed the presence of tyramine and data on the catecholamine protection of potato against patho- L-Dopa as well as dopamine and norepinephrine, and lead to gen infection have been presented. identification of the new compound of catecholamine catabo- lism, named normetanephrine. Epinephrine, homovanillic acid and vanillylmandelic acid were not found possibly due 2. Results to detection limit [18]. In contrast to the vast amount of knowledge concerning Recently we have suggested that catecholamines regulate the role and action of catecholamine in mammals, very little potato starch metabolism [17]. This finding provokes the is known on physiological significance of catecholamine in question about upstream signals responsible for changing plants. The involvement of TD was implicated in plant catecholamine content in plants. In order to answer this, wounding response [11]. The significant increase in TD was catecholamine content and activities of main enzyme impli- detected upon infection of potato leaves with Phytophtora cated in catecholamine biosynthesis were measured in potato infestans and in elicitor-treated parsley cells [6]. The exact leaves under different stress conditions. role of tyramine is however as yet speculative. Several re- ports suggest that catecholamines are precursors for alka- 2.1. Enzyme activities loids. The best known is the hallucinogen mescaline, identi- fied in several species of cacti, and tetrahydroisoquinoline The leaves exposed to abscisic acid (ABA) treatment alkaloid [5], both derived from dopamine. Norepinephrine is showed significant increase in three enzyme activities. The believed to be a precursor for berberastine, an alkaloid of activities of TH, TD and L-Dopa decarboxylase (DD) in- Hydrastis canadensis [15]. Other reports suggest that cat- creased about twofold, 55% and 50%, respectively (Fig. 1). echolamines may interact with plant hormones [1,12]. The TH and DD were also activated in case of drought. The Several reports pointed out the significance of compounds highest activation of TD was found in leaves incubated in that originated from catecholamine biosynthetic pathway. high salt concentration. The increase in TD was accompanied Studies have [3,10] shown that the biosynthesis of hydroxy- by significant decrease in TH and DD activity. Only slight cinnamic acid amides from tyramine and their subsequent increase in TD and significant decrease in DD was observed polymerization in the cell wall by oxidative enzymes is the integral and ubiquitous component of the plant defense re- sponse to pathogen challenge. These amides, together with other cell wall-bound phenolics, are believed to create a barrier against pathogens by reducing the digestibility of the cell wall [4]. Recently a new compound derived from tyrosine has been identified in leaves of potato plant. The glucosyl derivative of tyrosyl residue has been identified as a product of TD action instead of tyramine and the potential storage role of this compound was suggested [7]. In order to study the physiological function of catechola- mines in a more detailed way, transgenic plants overexpress- ing enzyme TD were generated and analyzed [17]. The over- expression of TD, which controls the important step of catecholamine synthesis, increased the tyramine and norepi- nephrine content in transgenic potato tubers. The increase of tyramine ranged from 15% to more than twofold when com- pared to control plants. The level of L-Dopa was enhanced in all examined transgenic lines; however, the increase was slight, ranging from 0.3% to 30% of the control value. Thus the data suggested that activation of tyramine synthesis in TD plants occurred by overexpression of cDNA encoding TD. The examination of the plants for catecholamines content revealed dramatic increase in norepinephrine quantity, 10- to Fig. 1. Activities of the TD, TH and DD measured in leaves from potato 15-fold increase was detected depending on transgenic line; plants (S. tuberosum L. cv. Desiree) under different stress conditions. Enzymes activities are given in pkatals (calculated from pmol of tyramine whereas the normetanephrine level was significantly de- for TD, L-Dopa for TH and dopamine for DD·per min) mg–1 of protein creased in all transgenic lines suggesting the inhibition of added. The data are presented as the mean ± S.E. of determinations on six norepinephrine catabolism. individual plants under each stress condition. A. S´wiVdrych et al. / Plant Physiology and Biochemistry 42 (2004) 593–600 595 in leaves exposed to low temperature. The same effect on The decrease in all enzyme activities in leaves stored in enzyme activities was revealed in leaves exposed to red light dark and in infrared conditions