Funding Organization(s): Gatsby Charitable Foundation, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), European Research Council (ERC)
Primary Citation of Related Structures:   9H3G, 9H6I, 9HES, 9HMW
PubMed Abstract: 
Polyamines are often associated with ribosomes and are thought to stabilize their integrity. In Arabidopsis , the polyamine thermospermine (tSpm) affects xylem cell fate. tSpm induces translation of SUPPRESSOR-OF-ACAULIS51 (SAC51) and SAC51-LIKEs (SACLs), which inhibit heterodimerization of the xylem development proteins LONESOME-HIGHWAY (LHW) and TARGET-OF-MONOPTEROS5. Here, we report a methyltransferase, OVERACHIEVER, that methylates the peptidyl transferase center of the 25 S ribosomal RNA (rRNA). Residue m 3 U2952 promotes functional tSpm binding to a specific site connecting the P-site transfer RNA (tRNA) with rRNA residues in the peptidyl transferase center. This interaction enhances the translation of SACLs but inhibits that of LHW. Our study uncovers the dependency between a conserved rRNA base methylation and a polyamine in orchestrating cell fate decisions, highlighting a role for the ribosome chemical landscape in translational regulation.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
The Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Institute of Biotechnology, HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, Cambridge, UK.
Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
College of Life Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
Czech Advanced Technology and Research Institute (CATRIN), Palacký University Olomouc, Olomouc, Czech Republic.
Department of Integrative Plant Biology, Institute of Plant Genetics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznań, Poland.
Laboratory of Growth Regulators, Institute of Experimental Botany, Czech Academy of Sciences and Faculty of Science, Palacký University, Olomouc, Czech Republic.
Plant Sciences Division, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington, UK.
Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas-Universitatd Politè cnica de València, Valencia, Spain.
Division of Plant Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK.
Laboratoire Reproduction et Développement des Plantes, Université Lyon, ENS de Lyon, CNRS, INRAE, Lyon, France.
Department of Computer Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Umeå Plant Science Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden.
Department of Haematology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Stem Cell Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Institute of Bioengineering, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.