Polyamines as indicators and modulators of the abiotic stress in plants

PABLO CALZADILLA; AYELÉN GÁZQUEZ; MAIALE SANTIAGO; ANDRES ALBERTO RODRIGUEZ; ANA BERNARDINA MENÉNDEZ; OSCAR ADOLFO RUIZ

Plant adaptation to environmental change: significance of amino acids and their derivatives

CABI

Lugar: Wallingford; Año: 2014; p. 109 - 128

Polyamines (PAs) are small molecules, positive charged at physiologicalconditions, which are essential for life in most prokaryotes, eukaryotes andviruses. The positive charge of the amino groups is the most important featurein these molecules, because it allows electrostatic interactions with severalmacromolecules such as proteins, lipids and nucleic acids. The polyamines1,4-diaminobutane or putes-cine (Put), the triamine 1,8 diamino-4- ozaoctane orspermidine (Spd) and the tetraamine 1,12-diamino-4,9-diazadodecane or spermine(Spm) are ubiquitous in plants. Less commonly found PAs are cadaverine (Cad),thermospermine (tSpm), nor-spermidine, norspermine, homocaldopentamine, homocaldohexamine,1,3-diaminopropane and 4-aminobutylcadaverine, among others. As can be found assoluble or insoluble forms. The soluble forms may be free or covalently linkedto compounds of low molecular weight such as p-coumaric, caffeic and ferulic acids,whereas insoluble forms are found covalently attached to lipids, proteins orcell wall components. At the cellular level, PAs affect cell division and differentiation,membrane stabilization, DNA replication, cell signalling, ion channel regulation,RNA transcription and protein translation. They have also been related to differentphenomena in plants, such as seed germination, floral initiation anddevelopment, organogenesis, embryogenesis, rhizogenesis, leaf senescence, fruitdevelopment and ripening. In recent years, several authors have describedprotective effects of PAs during plant response to biotic and abiotic stresses.