Prenylcysteine α-carboxyl methyltransferase in suspension-cultured tobacco cells

Isoprenylation is a posttranslational modification that is believed to be necessary, but not sufficient, for the efficient association of numerous eukaryotic cell proteins with membranes. Additional modifications have been shown to be required for proper intracellular targeting and function of certain isoprenylated proteins in mammalian and yeast cells. Although protein isoprenylation has been demonstrated in plants, postisoprenylation processing of plant proteins has not been described. Here we demonstrate that cultured tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum cv Bright Yellow-2) cells contain farnesylcysteine and geranylgeranylcysteine alpha-carboxyl methyltransferase activities with apparent Michaelis constants of 73 and 21 mu M for N-acetyl-S-trans,trans-farnesyl-L-cystein and N-acetyl-S-all-trans-geranylgeranyl-L-cysteine, respectively. Furthermore, competition analysis indicates that the same enzyme is responsible for both activities. These results suggest that alpha-carboxyl methylation is a step in the maturation of isoprenylated proteins in plants.