Abstract
Albinism is a common problem encountering breeding and interspecific crosses. Arabidopsis thaliana chyB (AtchyB) gene encodes for s-carotene hydroxylase. We generated transgenic plant over-expressing AtchyB in A. thaliana and compared to wild-type (WT) plants in response to light stress. We tested whether the over-expression of AtchyB gene can affect the green and albino leaf ultrastructure in A. thaliana transgenic lines. In this study, over-expression of AtchyB cDNA governed by Cauliflower Mosaic_Virus_35S (CaMV 35S) promoter showed a progressive yellow coloration in primary leaves and ultrastructural changes to albino and green leaves of transgenic A. thaliana plant in comparison to wild type (WT). Leaf albinism causes dilatation of both the palisade parenchyma and the secretory cells, enlargement of plastoglobules and increased cuticle thickness. In addition, the presence of low number of chloroplasts and/or starch grains is associated with leaf albinism phenomenon. Altogether, this suggests that A. thaliana 35S:AtchyB transgenic lines induce leaf albinism which affects the leaves ultrastructure with retrograde signaling, defects in chlorophyll biosynthesis and chloroplast dysfunction.
Highlights
Breeding and interspecific crosses in plants commonly cause albinism
In this study we assessed the input of Arabidopsis thaliana chyB (AtchyB) gene to the T1 generation of A. thaliana albino and green leaf ultrastructural response
Expression of AtchyB cDNA govern by CaMV 35S promoter showed ultrastructural changes in transgenic albino and green Arabidopsis plant leaves compare to wild type (WT) plant leaf
Summary
Breeding and interspecific crosses in plants commonly cause albinism. It is characterized by partial or complete loss of chlorophyll pigments and incomplete differentiation of chloroplast membranes. Albino leaf tissues are found in many different plant species because of lack of chlorophyll pigments (Abadie et al, 2006; Maya et al, 2009). A. thaliana over-expressing the chyB gene that encodes for beta-carotene hydroxylase were found more tolerant to conditions of high light and high temperature, with a reduced leaf necrosis, reduced production of the stress indicator anthocyanin and reduced lipid peroxidation, due to the function of zeaxanthin in preventing oxidative damage of membranes (Davison et al, 2002). The knockout lines for AtECB1 displayed albino phenotype and impaired chloroplast
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