Arabidopsis type-III phosphatidylinositol 4-kinases β1 and β2 are upstream of the phospholipase C pathway triggered by cold exposure.

Phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate (PtdIns4P) is the most abundant phosphoinositide in plants and the precursor of phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate [PtdIns(4,5)P(2)]. This lipid is the substrate of phosphoinositide-dependent phospholipase C (PI-PLC) that produces diacylglycerol (DAG) which can be phosphorylated to phosphatidic acid (PtdOH). In plants, it has been suggested that PtdIns4P may also be a direct substrate of PI-PLC. Whether PtdIns4P is the precursor of PtdIns(4,5)P(2) or a substrate of PI-PLC, its production by phosphatidylinositol-4-kinases (PI4Ks) is the first step in generating the phosphoinositides hydrolyzed by PI-PLC. PI4Ks can be divided into type-II and type-III. In plants, the identity of the PI4K upstream of PI-PLC is unknown. In Arabidopsis, cold triggers PI-PLC activation, resulting in PtdOH production which is paralleled by decreases in PtdIns4P and PtdIns(4,5)P(2). In suspension cells, both the PtdIns4P decrease and the PtdOH increase in response to cold were impaired by 30 μM wortmannin, a type-III PI4K inhibitor. Type-III PI4Ks include AtPI4KIIIα1, β1 and β2 isoforms. In this work we show that PtdOH resulting from the PI-PLC pathway is significantly lowered in a pi4kIIIβ1β2 double mutant exposed to cold stress. Such a decrease was not detected in single pi4kIIIβ1 and pi4kIIIβ2 mutants, indicating that AtPI4KIIIβ1 and AtPI4KIIIβ2 can both act upstream of the PI-PLC. Although several short-term to long-term responses to cold were unchanged in pi4kIIIβ1β2, cold induction of several genes was impaired in the double mutant and its germination was hypersensitive to chilling. We also provide evidence that de novo synthesis of PtdIns4P by PI4Ks occurs in parallel to PI-PLC activation.