Recruitment of bifunctional regulator thermospermine to methylated ribosomes directs xylem fate
Polyamines are often associated with ribosomes and are thought to stabilize their integrity. In <i>Arabidopsis</i>, 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<i>S</i> ribosomal RNA (rRNA). Residue m<sup>3</sup>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.
Authors
- Holm Liisa
- Rupert G. Fray (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3935-8945)
- Xiaonan Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9600-0536)
- Cristina Úrbez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9345-7322)
- Mariia Shcherbii (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0467-0162)
- Gugan Eswaran (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3439-3696)
- Eva Hellmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4591-2973)
- Ville O. Paavilainen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3160-7767)
- Karolina Stefanowicz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9054-6266)
- Alan J. Warren (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9277-4553)
- Petri Törönen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4764-9790)
- Finn Kirpekar
- Susanne Mandrup (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0961-5787)
- Julia P. Vainonen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2752-7625)
- Teva Vernoux (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8257-4088)
- Ronni Nielsen
- Mikko J. Frilander (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1732-4808)
- Zsuzsanna Bódi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3219-9224)
- Brecht Wybouw (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8783-4646)
- Donghwi Ko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9108-2918)
- Maija Sierla (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8493-3582)
- Robert Malinowski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5199-877X)
- Anja Paatero (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2193-2483)
- Sedeer El‐Showk
- Miguel Blázquez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9470-8904)
- Alexandre Faille (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0714-4133)
- Raili Ruonala
- Nuria De Diego (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4539-2696)
- Martin Balcerowicz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9462-4436)
- Anders Kristian Haakonsson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5076-3730)
- Fabrice BESNARD
- Patrick Perkins
- Tiina Öhman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6647-8873)
- Tanya Waldie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7760-0950)
- Ari Pekka Mähönen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6051-866X)
- Anna N. Stepanova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1018-4758)
- Markku Varjosalo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1340-9732)
- Kari Salokas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4471-6698)
- Huili Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5535-5015)
- A. Tormos Ferrando
- Sanja Ćavar Zeljković
- Ottoline Leyser
- Yka Helariutta
- Tine Drud Lundager Rasmussen
- Matthieu Bourdon
- Serina Mazzoni-Putman
- Hanna Help
- Jose Alonso
- Steffen Heber
- Ondrej Novak
- Karin Ljung
- Xiaomin Liu
Institutions
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (FR)
- South China Agricultural University (CN)
- École Normale Supérieure de Lyon (FR)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- North Carolina State University (US)
- University of Nottingham (GB)
- University of Dundee (GB)
- University of Southern Denmark (DK)
- Wellcome/MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute (GB)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Sainsbury Laboratory (GB)
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SE)
- Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR)
- Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials (CZ)
- Umeå Plant Science Centre (SE)
- Laboratoire Reproduction et Développement des Plantes (FR)
- Institute of Plant Genetics, Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
- Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Experimental Botany (CZ)
- Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas (ES)
- University of Tartu (EE)
- Palacký University Olomouc (CZ)
- Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science
- Published
- 2026-02-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adx2867
- Primary Topic
- Polyamine Metabolism and Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00