The jasmonate-induced 60 kDa protein of barley exhibits N-glycosidase activity in vivo.

Upon jasmonate treatment barley leaf segments express a putative ribosome-inactivating protein (JIP60). The influence of this protein on translation in planta has been analysed by using barley plants and tobacco plants transformed with a barley cDNA encoding JIP60. In both plant systems JIP60 exhibited N-glycosidase activity in vivo.

RIP-JIP60 alters conformation of ribosomes in vivo.

Recently it has been demonstrated that expression putative ribosome-inactivating protein JIP 60 in transgenic tobacco plants leads to the depurination of large rRNA and inactivation of plant ribosomes. Treatment of ribosomes from transgenic tobacco plants with low concentration of alpha-sarcin resulted in the appearance of an rRNA specific fragment. No fragment was observed under the same conditions for ribosomes from wild type plants.