Characterization of Arabidopsis thaliana lines with T-DNA insertions in the mitochondrial ribosomal protein genes Rps14 and Rps19

Abstract

In Arabidopsis, most of the genes encoding mitochondrial ribosomal proteins are located in the nucleus and only seven are present in the mitochondrial genome. Assembly of a functional ribosome requires coordinated expression of ribosomal protein encoding genes located in both these organelles. Genes and promoters of nuclear encoded mitochondrial ribosomal protein coding genes of plants have not been well characterized so far. In the present study we have characterized Arabidopsis thaliana SALK mutant lines with T-DNA insertion in Rps14 or Rps19 gene. The location of T-DNA insertion in the mutant lines was confirmed and plants homozygous and hemizygous for TDNA insertion were identified for both Rps14 and Rps19 genes. In homozygous T-DNA mutant lines of both Rps14 and Rps19 genes, the expression was estimated using RTPCR. Rps14 and Rps19 transcripts similar to wild type were present in homozygous mutant plants of Rps14 and Rps19 which indicated that T-DNA insertion has not affected their expression.