Primary restriction of S‐RNase cytotoxicity by a stepwise ubiquitination and degradation pathway in Petunia hybrida

In self-incompatible Solanaceous species, the pistil S-RNase acts as cytotoxin to inhibit self-pollination but is polyubiquitinated by the pollen-specific non-self S-locus F-box (SLF) proteins and subsequently degraded by the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS), allowing cross-pollination. However, it remains unclear how S-RNase is restricted by the UPS. Here, we first show that Petunia hybrida (Ph) S3-RNase is largely ubiquitinated by K48-linked polyubiquitin chains at three regions, R I, II and III. R I is ubiquitinated in unpollinated, self- and cross-pollinated pistils, indicating its occurrence prior to PhS3-RNase uptake into pollen tubes, whereas R II and III are exclusively ubiquitinated in cross-pollinated pistils. Second, removal of R II ubiquitination resulted in significantly reduced seed sets from cross-pollination and that of R I and III in less extents, indicating their increased cytotoxicity. In consistent, the mutated R II of PhS3-RNase resulted in marked reduction of its degradation, whereas that of R I and III in less reductions. Taken together, our results demonstrate that PhS3-RNase R II functions as a major ubiquitination region for its destruction and R I and III as minor ones, revealing that its cytotoxicity is primarily restricted by a stepwise UPS mechanism for cross-pollination in P. hybrida.ONE SENTENCE SUMMARYBiochemical and transgenic analyses reveal that Petunia hybrida S3-RNase cytotoxicity is largely restricted by a stepwise ubiquitination and degradation pathway during cross-pollination.