Chloroplast Development In Cotyledons Research Articles

Extrachloroplastic PP7L Functions in Chloroplast Development and Abiotic Stress Tolerance.

Chloroplast biogenesis is indispensable for proper plant development and environmental acclimation. In a screen for mutants affected in photosynthesis, we identified the protein phosphatase7-like (pp7l) mutant, which displayed delayed chloroplast development in cotyledons and young leaves. PP7L, PP7, and PP7-long constitute a subfamily of phosphoprotein phosphatases. PP7 is thought to transduce a blue-light signal perceived by crys and phy a that induces expression of SIGMA FACTOR5 (SIG5). We observed that, like PP7, PP7L was predominantly localized to the nucleus in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), and the pp7l phenotype was similar to that of the sig6 mutant. However, SIG6 expression was unaltered in pp7l mutants. Instead, loss of PP7L compromised translation and ribosomal RNA (rRNA) maturation in chloroplasts, pointing to a distinct mechanism influencing chloroplast development. Promoters of genes deregulated in pp7l-1 were enriched in PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTOR (PIF)-binding motifs and the transcriptome of pp7l-1 resembled those of pif and CONSTITUTIVE PHOTOMORPHOGENESIS1 (COP1) signalosome complex (csn) mutants. However, pif and csn mutants, as well as cop1, cryptochromes (cry)1 cry2, and phytochromes (phy)A phyB mutants, do not share the pp7l photosynthesis phenotype. PhyB protein levels were elevated in pp7l mutants, but phyB overexpression plants did not resemble pp7l These results indicate that PP7L operates through a different pathway and that the control of greening and photosystem biogenesis can be separated. The lack of PP7L increased susceptibility to salt and high-light stress, whereas PP7L overexpression conferred resistance to high-light stress. Strikingly, PP7L was specifically recruited to Brassicales for the regulation of chloroplast development. This study adds another player involved in chloroplast biogenesis.

Snowy cotyledon 2: the identification of a zinc finger domain protein essential for chloroplast development in cotyledons but not in true leaves

In cotyledons of etiolated seedlings light-dependent transformation of etioplasts to chloroplasts marks the transition from heterotrophic to autotrophic growth. Genetic factors required for this developmental step were identified by isolating mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana that were impaired in chloroplast development in cotyledons but not in true leaves. Several mutants with chlorophyll-deficient cotyledons were isolated and dubbed snowy cotyledon (sco). Here we describe the identification and detailed characterization of the snowy cotyledon 2 mutant. The mutated SCO2 gene was identified using a map-based cloning strategy. SCO2 was shown to encode a novel protein which contains a single DnaJ-like zinc finger domain. The SCO2 protein fused to GFP was shown to be present in chloroplasts. Inactivation of SCO2 has almost no detectable impact on the levels of transcripts encoding plastid-specific proteins but leads to a significant reduction of plastid protein levels. Even though transcripts of SCO2 have been found ubiquitously in green tissues as well as in roots phenotypic changes due to SCO2 inactivation are confined to cotyledons. The cotyledons in embryos of sco2 are unaffected in their chloroplast biogenesis. Upon precocious germination seedlings of sco2 and wild type are indistinguishable. The SCO2 mutation affects chloroplast biogenesis only at the end of dormancy during seed germination. The transition from heterotrophic to autotrophic growth is dramatically impaired in sco2 when seedlings were kept in the dark for more than 5 days prior to light exposure.

A nuclear‐encoded sigma factor, Arabidopsis SIG6, recognizes sigma‐70 type chloroplast promoters and regulates early chloroplast development in cotyledons

Eubacterial-type multi-subunit plastid RNA polymerase (PEP) is responsible for the principal transcription activity in chloroplasts. PEP is composed of plastid-encoded core subunits and one of multiple nuclear-encoded sigma factors that confer promoter specificity on PEP. Thus, the replacement of sigma factors associated with PEP has been assumed to be a major mechanism for the switching of transcription patterns during chloroplast development. The null mutant (sig6-1) of plastid sigma factor gene AtSIG6 exhibited a cotyledon-specific pale green phenotype. Light-dependent chloroplast development was significantly delayed in the sig6-1 mutant. Genetic complementation of the mutant phenotype by the AtSIG6 cDNA demonstrated that AtSIG6 plays a key role in light-dependent chloroplast development. Northern and array-based global analyses for plastid transcripts revealed that the transcript levels of most PEP-dependent genes were greatly reduced in the sig6-1 mutant, but that the accumulation of nuclear-encoded RNA polymerase (NEP)-dependent transcripts generally increased. As the PEP alpha subunit and PEP-dependent trnV accumulated at normal levels in the sig6-1 mutant, the AtSIG6 knockout mutant probably retained functional PEP, and the transcriptional defects are likely to have been directly caused by AtSIG6 deficiency. Most of the AtSIG6-dependent genes are preceded by sigma70-type promoters comprised of conserved -35/-10 elements. Thus, AtSIG6 may act as a major general sigma factor in chloroplasts during early plant development. On the other hand, the mutant phenotype was restored in older seedlings. Arabidopsis probably contains another late general sigma factor, the promoter specificity of which widely overlaps with that of AtSIG6.

Effect of Cytokinins and Antibiotics on Chloroplast Development in Cotyledons of Cucumis sativus

Summary A description is given of changes which occured under the influence of cytokinins, chloramphenicol (CAP), eyeloheximide (CXD) and their combinations in chlorophyll synthesis and development of chloroplast structure in palisade parenchyma cells of cucumber cotyledons. Cytokinins distinctly promoted chlorophyll synthesis and chloroplast development, and the antibiotics inhibited these processes. The inhibiting activity of CXD was several times higher than that of CAP. Kinetin applied simultaneously with CAP only partially overcame its inhibitory effect, whereas in the case of CXD the overcoming was complete. It is suggested that the promotion by cytokinins of chloroplast development in cucumber cotyledons results mainly from their effect on protein synthesis occurring in the cytoplasm.