Regulation of ribosome biogenesis in maize embryonic axes during germination

Ribosome biogenesis is a pre-requisite for cell growth and proliferation; it is however, a highly regulated process that consumes a great quantity of energy. It requires the coordinated production of rRNA, ribosomal proteins and non-ribosomal factors which participate in the processing and mobilization of the new ribosomes. Ribosome biogenesis has been studied in yeast and animals; however, there is little information about this process in plants. The objective of the present work was to study ribosome biogenesis in maize seeds during germination, a stage characterized for its fast growth, and the effect of insulin in this process. Insulin has been reported to accelerate germination and to induce seedling growth. It was observed that among the first events reactivated just after 3 h of imbibition are the rDNA transcription and the pre-rRNA processing and that insulin stimulates both of them (40-230%). The transcript of nucleolin, a protein which regulates rDNA transcription and pre-rRNA processing, is among the messages stored in quiescent dry seeds and it is mobilized into the polysomal fraction during the first hours of imbibition (6 h). In contrast, de novo ribosomal protein synthesis was low during the first hours of imbibition (3 and 6 h) increasing by 60 times in later stages (24 h). Insulin increased this synthesis (75%) at 24 h of imbibition; however, not all ribosomal proteins were similarly regulated. In this regard, an increase in RPS6 and RPL7 protein levels was observed, whereas RPL3 protein levels did not change even though its transcription was induced. Results show that ribosome biogenesis in the first stages of imbibition is carried out with newly synthesized rRNA and ribosomal proteins translated from stored mRNA.