Citrullination of Proteins as a Specific Response Mechanism in Plants

Claudius Marondedze; Giuliano Elia; Ludivine Thomas; Aloysius Wong; Chris Gehring

doi:10.3389/fpls.2021.638392

Citrullination of Proteins as a Specific Response Mechanism in Plants

Front Plant Sci. 2021 Apr 8:12:638392. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2021.638392. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Claudius Marondedze^{1

2

3}, Giuliano Elia⁴, Ludivine Thomas¹, Aloysius Wong^{5

6}, Chris Gehring^{1

7}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Biological and Chemical Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.
² Rijk Zwaan, De Lier, Netherlands.
³ Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Midlands State University, Gweru, Zimbabwe.
⁴ Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
⁵ Department of Biology, College of Science and Technology, Wenzhou-Kean University, Wenzhou, China.
⁶ Zhejiang Bioinformatics International Science and Technology Cooperation Center of Wenzhou-Kean University, Wenzhou, China.
⁷ Department of Chemistry, Biology and Biotechnology, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.

Abstract

Arginine deimination, also referred to as citrullination of proteins by L-arginine deiminases, is a post-translational modification affecting histone modifications, epigenetic transcriptional regulation, and proteolysis in animals but has not been reported in higher plants. Here we report, firstly, that Arabidopsis thaliana proteome contains proteins with a specific citrullination signature and that many of the citrullinated proteins have nucleotide-binding regulatory functions. Secondly, we show that changes in the citrullinome occur in response to cold stress, and thirdly, we identify an A. thaliana protein with peptidyl arginine deiminase activity that was shown to be calcium-dependent for many peptide substrates. Taken together, these findings establish this post-translational modification as a hitherto neglected component of cellular reprogramming during stress responses.

Keywords: arginine deiminase; citrullination; citrullinome; cold stress; post-translational modification.