Involvement of ethylene in UV-B-induced changes in polyamine content in Arabidopsis thaliana plants

Components of the ethylene signal perception and transduction pathway (ethylene signaling pathway, ESP) were studied in respect to their involvement in regulation of UV-B-induced changes in levels of polyamines in plants Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. Experiments were performed on 15-day old wild type (WT) plants, the mutant etr1-1 with impaired ethylene reception, and the ethylene-insensitive mutant ctr1-1 with constitutively activated ESP. The plants were cultivated aseptically. It was found that exogenous ethylene or an inhibitor of its action 1-methylcyclopropen (1-MCP), which blocks ethylene receptors did not affect the polyamine content in leaf rosettes of plants, which had not been subjected to UV-B stress. A day after UV-B irradiation at intermediate (9 kJ/m2) or high doses (18 kJ/m2), the putrescine levels increased, respectively, 6.4 and 3.0 times in WT, 4.5 and 3.2 times in etr1-1, and 5.5 and 4.7 in ctr1-1. Pretreatment with ethylene (1 μL/L) for 24 h reduced the putrescine accumulation along with the loss in spermidine and spermine pools in WT plants and, to a lesser extent, in etr1-1 mutant. Treatment with 1-MCP (50 nL/L, 3 h before and 24 h after the irradiation) enhanced plant sensitivity to UV-B, putrescine accumulation, as well as spermidine and spermine consumption in WT and, to a lesser degree, in etr1-1. The mutant ctr1-1 was insensitive to both ethylene and 1-MCP. The results show that the activation of ESP by ethylene increases plant resistance to UV-B because the irradiation stimulates accumulation of putrescine, which converts to spermidine and spermine functioning as ROS traps.