Abstract
BackgroundThe roles in photosystem I (PSI) assembly of the nucleus-encoded thylakoid protein Y3IP1 who interacts with the plastid-encoded Ycf3 protein that has been well-characterized in plants. However, its function and potential mechanisms in other aspects remain poorly understood.ResultsWe identified the apple MdY3IP1 gene, which encodes a protein highly homologous to the Arabidopsis Y3IP1 (AtY3IP1). Ectopic expression of MdY3IP1 triggered early-flowering and enhanced salt tolerance in Arabidopsis plants. MdY3IP1 controlled floral transition by accelerating sugar metabolism process in plant cells, thereby influencing the expression of flowering-associated genes. The increase in salt stress tolerance in MdY3IP1-expressing plants correlated with reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation, and an increase in lateral root development by regulating both auxin biosynthesis and transport, as followed by enhancement of salt tolerance in Arabidopsis. Overall, these findings provide new evidences for additional functions of Y3IP1-like proteins and their underlying mechanisms of which Y3IP1 confers early-flowering and salt tolerance phenotypes in plants.ConclusionsThese observations suggest that plant growth and stress resistance can be affected by the regulation of the MdY3IP1 gene. Further molecular and genetic approaches will accelerate our knowledge of MdY3IP1 functions in PSI complex formation and plants stress resistance, and inform strategies for creating transgenic crop varieties with early maturity and high-resistant to adverse environmental conditions.
Highlights
The roles in photosystem I (PSI) assembly of the nucleus-encoded thylakoid protein Hypothetical chloroplast reading frame number 3 (Ycf3)-interacting protein (Y3IP1) who interacts with the plastid-encoded Ycf3 protein that has been well-characterized in plants
Ectopic expression of the apple chloroplast-localized protein MdY3IP1 leads to early flowering in Arabidopsis We identified and cloned the apple MdY3IP1 gene (Accession number: MDP0000930948) (Additional file 1), which encodes a protein highly homologous to the Arabidopsis nucleus-encoded chloroplast-localized AtY3IP1 [17]
The green fluorescent protein (GFP) signal of pCaMV35S::MdY3IP1-GFP was enriched at regions that overlapped with chlorophyll auto-fluorescence in the chloroplasts, whereas pCaMV35S::GFP localized throughout the whole cells (Fig. 1a)
Summary
The roles in photosystem I (PSI) assembly of the nucleus-encoded thylakoid protein Y3IP1 who interacts with the plastid-encoded Ycf protein that has been well-characterized in plants. PSI is a fundamental pigment-binding protein complex that functions in photosynthetic energy and electron-transfer processes; it uses energy absorbed from sunlight to drive electron transport from plastocyanin to ferredoxin, in cyanobacteria, algae, and plants [4,5,6,7]. PSI has a molecular mass of approximately 600 kDa, and is composed of two subcomplexes: the PSI core complex and the light-harversting complex I (LHCI). It has at least twelve core subunits in higher plants, including three peripheral (PsaC, PsaD, and PsaE) and nine membrane-intrinsic subunits (PsaA, PsaB, and PsaF-PsaL) [11,12,13,14].
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