Storage proteins in Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] Karst.) seeds were historically regarded as rivaling the protamines of fish sperm as a rich source for arginine, but the importance of arginine rich proteins in coni

Salmine, an arginine rich protamine, is explored for its concentration dependent potential to restructure the genome and remodel the homeotic development of Norway spruce embryos expressing monozy gotic cleavage polyembryony (MCP). In controls and at low salmine, two protein fractions on SDS PAGE gels were associated with cells responsible for generating the basal plan for early embryagenesis. With high salmine, embryonal initials no longer differentiated into embryonal tubes. Embryos having embryonal tubes no longer enu cleated and differentiated into embryonal suspensors. Biomass and amino acid N declined. Nuclear and cytoplas mic organization was disrupted and nucleoli were highly vacuolated. The transcription of the two protein fractions, PCNA (cyclin) activity and MCP were blocked. Cellular proteins were turned over by proteasomal ubiquitination and others released into the culture medium. Biomass loss and gluconeogenesis of amino acids led to the accumu lation of free arginine N. No evidence was obtained with salmine for the remodeling of cells into gametes. DOI: 10.3103/S0095452710020015