Overexpression of S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase impacts polyamine homeostasis during development of Dictyostelium discoideum

The polyamines putrescine, spermidine and spermine are essential polycations involved in the regulation of cellular proliferation. They exert dynamic effects on nucleic acids and macromolecular synthesis in vitro but their specific functions in vivo are poorly understood. Here, we have modulated the spermidine levels either by overexpressing the S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (samdc) gene or treating the cells with methylglyoxal-bis (guanylhydrazone) (MGBG), an inhibitor of SAMDC. In Dictyostelium, overexpression of SAMDC slowed cell proliferation, delayed development and arrested cells in the S-phase of the cell cycle.Treatment with MGBG reduced cell proliferation and stimulated development, but in samdc(OE) cells, it increased cell proliferation suggesting critical levels of spermidine to be important. In samdc(OE) cells, spermidine levels remained high throughout development but only small changes in the spermine levels were observed. Initial putrescine levels did increase but reverted to wild-type levels after the mound stage. As tight regulation of polyamine homeostasis is required, we identified genes that could be involved in its maintenance. In conclusion, we characterised samdc(OE) cells and observed the maintenance of polyamine homeostasis during the development of Dictyostelium cells.