Transposon-induced nuclear mutations that alter chloroplast gene expression. Annual report, September 1, 1992--April 15, 1993.

摘要

The goal of this project is to use mutant phenotypes as a guide to nuclear genes that control the timing and cell-type specificity of chloroplast gene expression. Studies are being conducted with nuclear mutants of maize that are defective in the biogenesis or translation of chloroplast mRNAs. Currently studies are focused on two nuclear mutants with specific and unique lesions in chloroplast RNA processing (crp mutants). Crp1 mutants (formerly called hcf136) fail to accumulate the cytochrome f/b6 complex. The protein loss is due to a defect in the metabolism of transcripts encoding the petB and petD gene products, two subunits of the missing complex. Mutant seedlings lack the monocistronic petB and petD MRNAS, which both arise in nominal plants by endonucleolytic cleavage of the polycistronic primary transcript of the psbB gene cluster. Precursor mRNAs accumulate normally in crp1, indicating that its defect is due either to a failure to cleave the precursors, or a failure to stabilize the fully processed mRNAs. We are interested in both the biochemistry of this site-specific RNA processing and in the role of the processing in generating translatable mRNAs. To address the latter, we are quantifying the rates of synthesis of the petB and petD gene products with the goal of determining whether the missing transcripts are more efficiently translated than their precursors. To address the biochemistry of the defect in RNA metabolism, the crp1 gene is being cloned via the transposon tag. crp2 (formerly called hcf142) lacks the predominant mRNA encoding petA, but appears to be otherwise unimpaired in chloroplast RNA metabolism. The precise role of crp2 in synthesizing or stabilizing the petA mRNA is being investigated through biochemical studies.