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Spermidine (Spd) treatment inhibited root cell elongation, promoted deposition of phenolics in cell walls of rhizodermis, xylem elements, and vascular parenchyma, and resulted in a higher number of cells resting in G 1 and G 2 phases in the maize (Zea mays) primary root apex. Furthermore, Spd treatment induced nuclear condensation and DNA fragmentation as well as precocious differentiation and cell death in both early metaxylem and late metaxylem precursors. Treatment with either N-prenylagmatine, a selective inhibitor of polyamine oxidase (PAO) enzyme activity, or N,N 1 -dimethylthiourea, a hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) scavenger, reverted Spd-induced autofluorescence intensification, DNA fragmentation, inhibition of root cell elongation, as well as reduction of percentage of nuclei in S phase. Transmission electron microscopy showed that N-prenylagmatine inhibited the differentiation of the secondary wall of early and late metaxylem elements, and xylem parenchymal cells. Moreover, although root growth and xylem differentiation in antisense PAO tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plants were unaltered, overexpression of maize PAO (SZmPAO) as well as down-regulation of the gene encoding S-adenosyl-L-methionine decarboxylase via RNAi in tobacco plants promoted vascular cell differentiation and induced programmed cell death in root cap cells. Furthermore, following Spd treatment in maize and ZmPAO overexpression in tobacco, the in vivo H 2 O 2 production was enhanced in xylem tissues. Overall, our results suggest that, after Spd supply or PAO overexpression, H 2 O 2 derived from polyamine catabolism behaves as a signal for secondary wall deposition and for induction of developmental programmed cell death.

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Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is involved in plant defense responses that follow mechanical damage, such as those that occur during herbivore or insect attacks, as well as pathogen attack. H2O2 accumulation is induced during wound healing processes as well as by treatment with the wound signal jasmonic acid. Plant polyamine oxidases (PAOs) are H2O2 producing enzymes supposedly involved in cell wall differentiation processes and defense responses. Maize (Zea mays) PAO (ZmPAO) is a developmentally regulated flavoprotein abundant in primary and secondary cell walls of several tissues. In this study, we investigated the effect of wounding on ZmPAO gene expression in the outer tissues of the maize mesocotyl and provide evidence that ZmPAO enzyme activity, protein, and mRNA levels increased in response to wounding as well as jasmonic acid treatment. Histochemically detected ZmPAO activity especially intensified in the epidermis and in the wound periderm, suggesting a tissue-specific involvement of ZmPAO in wound healing. The role played by ZmPAO-derived H2O2 production in peroxidase-mediated wall stiffening events was further investigated by exploiting the in vivo use of N-prenylagmatine (G3), a selective and powerful ZmPAO inhibitor, representing a reliable diagnostic tool in discriminating ZmPAO-mediated H2O2 production from that generated by peroxidase, oxalate oxidase, or by NADPH oxidase activity. Here, we demonstrate that G3 inhibits wound-induced H2O2 production and strongly reduces lignin and suberin polyphenolic domain deposition along the wound, while it is ineffective in inhibiting the deposition of suberin aliphatic domain. Moreover, ZmPAO ectopic expression in the cell wall of transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plants strongly enhanced lignosuberization along the wound periderm, providing evidence for a causal relationship between PAO and peroxidase-mediated events during wound healing.

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Amine oxidases (AOs) oxidize polyamines (PAs) to aldehydes, simultaneously producing the removed amine moiety and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). AOs, which include copper-containing amine oxidases (CuAOs) and flavin-containing amine oxidases (PAOs), are stress-inducible enzymes involved in both PA homeostasis and H2O2 production. Here, we suggest that H2O2 derived from PAO-mediated PA catabolism has a role in inducing root xylem differentiation during plant stress responses, whereas its involvement in this event during plant development under physiological conditions is not suitably supported by the currently available data. Moreover, we show that spermidine (Spd) supply leads to a higher induction of cell death in wild-type (WT) tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plants as compared to tobacco plants over-expressing maize (Zea mays) PAO (S-ZmPAO) in the cell wall, in apparent contradiction with the already reported results obtained by the analysis of the corresponding WT and S-ZmPAO Spd-untreated plants. Considering this last observation, we propose that PAs diversely affect plant development and stress responses depending on the expression levels of AOs, which in turn may lead to different plant responses by altering the PAs/H2O2 balance.

Polyamines (PAs) are aliphatic polycations present in all living organisms. A growing body of evidence reveals their involvement as regulators in a variety of physiological and pathological events. They are oxidatively deaminated by amine oxidases (AOs), including copper amine oxidases (CuAOs) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD)-dependent polyamine oxidases (PAOs). The biologically-active hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a shared compound in all of the AO-catalyzed reactions, and it has been reported to play important roles in PA-mediated developmental and stress-induced processes. In particular, the AO-driven H2O2 biosynthesis in the cell wall is well known to be involved in plant wound healing and pathogen attack responses by both triggering peroxidase-mediated wall-stiffening events and signaling modulation of defense gene expression. Extensive investigation by a variety of methodological approaches revealed high levels of expression of cell wall-localized AOs in root xylem tissues and vascular parenchyma of different plant species. Here, the recent progresses in understanding the role of cell wall-localized AOs as mediators of root xylem differentiation during development and/or under stress conditions are reviewed. A number of experimental pieces of evidence supports the involvement of apoplastic H2O2 derived from PA oxidation in xylem tissue maturation under stress-simulated conditions.