Mutation of an Arabidopsis NatB N-Alpha-Terminal Acetylation Complex Component Causes Pleiotropic Developmental Defects

N-alpha-terminal acetylation is one of the most common, but least understood modifications of eukaryotic proteins. Although a high degree of conservation exists between the N-alpha-terminal acetylomes of plants and animals, very little information is available on this modification in plants. In yeast and humans, N-alpha-acetyltransferase complexes include a single catalytic subunit and one or two auxiliary subunits. Here, we report the positional cloning of TRANSCURVATA2 (TCU2), which encodes the auxiliary subunit of the NatB N-alpha-acetyltransferase complex in Arabidopsis. The phenotypes of loss-of-function tcu2 alleles indicate that NatB complex activity is required for flowering time regulation and for leaf, inflorescence, flower, fruit and embryonic development. In double mutants, tcu2 alleles synergistically interact with alleles of ARGONAUTE10, which encodes a component of the microRNA machinery. In summary, NatB-mediated N-alpha-terminal acetylation of proteins is pleiotropically required for Arabidopsis development and seems to be functionally related to the microRNA pathway.