Mitochondrial transcript length polymorphisms are a widespread phenomenon in Arabidopsis thaliana

Abstract

Natural genetic variation affects development, physiology, biochemical properties as well as mitochondrial transcripts of the model species Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis). In a previous study, we identified mitochondrial transcript end polymorphisms in Arabidopsis accessions Columbia, C24 and Landsberg erecta. The polymorphic transcript species could either be assigned to differences in the mitochondrial DNA or to natural genetic variation in the nucleus. To analyze the distribution and to identify additional 5' end polymorphisms we now analyzed 19 mitochondrial transcription units in 26 different accessions. We found additional 5' end polymorphisms indicating that such transcript length differences are a widespread phenomenon in Arabidopsis. The new polymorphisms affect cox1, cox2, nad2 as well nad3-rps12 transcript species. While the cox2 polymorphism can be attributed to a recombination event in the mitochondrial DNA, the nad2 transcript polymorphism is linked to differences in the nuclear DNA. A complex pattern is found for nad3-rps12 mRNA whose 5' ends differ between several accessions. These new polymorphisms provide an important basis for a more detailed characterization of mitochondrial 5' end processing.