A point mutation in the pentatricopeptide repeat motif of the AtECB2 protein causes delayed chloroplast development

AtECB2 encodes a pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) protein that regulates the editing of the plastid genes accD and ndhF. The ecb2-1 knockout shows an albino phenotype and is seedling lethal. In this study, we isolated an allelic mutant of the AtECB2 gene, ecb2-2, which showed delayed greening phenotype but could complete their life cycle. In this mutant, the Thr(500) is converted to Ile(500) in the 13(th) PPR motif of the AtECB2 protein. Transmission electron microscopy demonstrated that chloroplast development was delayed in both the cotyledons and leaves of the mutant. An investigation of the chloroplast gene expression profile indicated that PEP (plastid-encoded RNA polymerase) activity in ecb2-2 cotyledons was not obviously affected, whereas it was severely impaired in ecb2-1. This result suggests that the PEP activities cause the different phenotypes of the ecb2-1 and ecb2-2 mutants. The editing efficiency of the three editing sites of accD (C794 and C1568) and ndhF (C290) in the mutant was dynamically altered, which was in agreement with the phenotype. This result indicates that the editing efficiency of accD and ndhF in the ecb2-2 mutant is associated with a delayed greening phenotype. As ecb2-2 can survive and set seeds, this mutant can be used for further investigation of RNA editing and chloroplast development in arabidopsis.     

甘薯质体中的乙酰辅酶A羧化酶亚基基因accD的克隆与序列分析

依据烟草质体全基因组序列设计引物,以甘薯质体基因组DNA为模板,PCR扩增包含质体accD基因完整编码区在内的一段序列（GenBank登录号为GQ395771）。序列分析表明：该片段全长为2209bp,包括1548bp的nccD基因编码序列,推测编码515个氨基酸的蛋白质,该蛋白序列具有异质型β-CT中保守的锌指结构和C末端5个基元。同时绘制了该DNA片段的限制性酶切图谱。相似性比较显示,甘薯accD基因与大豆、马铃薯、拟南芥、人参、莴苣、葡萄、海岛棉、甘蓝、辣椒、菠菜、番茄和烟草的accD基因核苷酸相似性为72％-87％,氨基酸相似性为58％-83％。     

水稻矮缩病毒第一号组份基因和编码蛋白的序列分析

水稻矮缩病毒（RiceDwarfVirus,简称RDV）是我国南方水稻病毒病的重要病原,属植物呼肠孤病毒。从中国福建分离物中克隆了基因组第一号片段（S1）的全长cDNA并对其进行全序列分析,结果表明RDV福建分离物S1克隆片段全长4422bp,含有一个长4332bp的开放阅读框架,编码一个由1444个氨基酸组成的多肽（P1）,分子量为164kD．根据基因序列,对推测的P1氨基酸序列分析表明,序列中含有依赖于RNA的RNA聚合酶（RNA-dependentpolymerase-RDRP）保守序列：motifＩ（DXXXXD）、motifⅡ（SGXXXTXXXN）和motifⅢ（GDD）,除此之外,在模式Ⅲ后还存在一个很保守的区域EXXKXY。由此说明RDVS1编码的蛋白P1可能是病毒的一种RDRP。将RDV福建分离物引核苷酸和编码蛋白氨基酸序列与日本流行株系相比,同源性分别为95％和97％。RDV福建分离物S1序列已被DenBank接受,号码为U73201。