Arabidopsis protein l-ISOASPARTYL METHYLTRANSFERASE repairs isoaspartyl damage to antioxidant enzymes and increases heat and oxidative stress tolerance.

Stressful environments accelerate the formation of isoaspartyl (isoAsp) residues in proteins, which detrimentally affect protein structure and function. The enzyme PROTEIN l-ISOASPARTYL METHYLTRANSFERASE (PIMT) repairs other proteins by reverting deleterious isoAsp residues to functional aspartyl residues. PIMT function previously has been elucidated in seeds, but its role in plant survival under stress conditions remains undefined. Herein, we used molecular, biochemical, and genetic approaches, including protein overexpression and knockdown experiments, in Arabidopsis to investigate the role of PIMTs in plant growth and survival during heat and oxidative stresses. We demonstrate that these stresses increase isoAsp accumulation in plant proteins, that PIMT activity is essential for restricting isoAsp accumulation, and that both PIMT1 and PIMT2 play an important role in this restriction and Arabidopsis growth and survival. Moreover, we show that PIMT improves stress tolerance by facilitating efficient reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging by protecting the functionality of antioxidant enzymes from isoAsp-mediated damage during stress. Specifically, biochemical and MS/MS analyses revealed that antioxidant enzymes acquire deleterious isoAsp residues during stress, which adversely affect their catalytic activities, and that PIMT repairs the isoAsp residues and thereby restores antioxidant enzyme function. Collectively, our results suggest that the PIMT-mediated protein repair system is an integral part of the stress-tolerance mechanism in plants, in which PIMTs protect antioxidant enzymes that maintain proper ROS homeostasis against isoAsp-mediated damage in stressful environments.