Increases in cell elongation,plastid compartment size and phytoene synthase activity underlie the phenotype of the<Emphasis Type="Italic"> high pigment-1</Emphasis> mutant of tomato

A characteristic trait of the high pigment-1 ( hp-1) mutant phenotype of tomato ( Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) is increased pigmentation resulting in darker green leaves and a deeper red fruit. In order to determine the basis for changes in pigmentation in this mutant, cellular and plastid development was analysed during leaf and fruit development, as well as the expression of carotenogenic genes and phytoene synthase enzyme activity. The hp-1 mutation dramatically increases the periclinal elongation of leaf palisade mesophyll cells, which results in increased leaf thickness. In addition, in both palisade and spongy mesophyll cells, the total plan area of chloroplasts per cell is increased compared to the wild type. These two perturbations in leaf development are the primary cause of the darker green hp-1 leaf. In the hp-1 tomato fruit, the total chromoplast area per cell in the pericarp cells of the ripe fruit is also increased. In addition, although expression of phytoene synthase and desaturase is not changed in hp-1 compared to the wild type, the activity of phytoene synthase in ripe fruit is 1.9-fold higher, indicating translational or post-translational control of carotenoid gene expression. The increased plastid compartment size in leaf and fruit cells of hp-1 is novel and provides evidence that the normally tightly controlled relationship between cell expansion and the replication and expansion of plastids can be perturbed and thus could be targeted by genetic manipulation.     

Plastid and stromule morphogenesis in tomato

By using green fluorescent protein targeted to the plastid organelle in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.), the morphology of plastids and their associated stromules in epidermal cells and trichomes from stems and petioles and in the chromoplasts of pericarp cells in the tomato fruit has been revealed. A novel characteristic of tomato stromules is the presence of extensive bead-like structures along the stromules that are often observed as free vesicles, distinct from and apparently unconnected to the plastid body. Interconnections between the red pigmented chromoplast bodies are common in fruit pericarp cells suggesting that chromoplasts could form a complex network in this cell type. The potential implications for carotenoid biosynthesis in tomato fruit and for vesicles originating from beaded stromules as a secretory mechanism for plastids in glandular trichomes of tomato is discussed.     

Stromule formation is dependent upon plastid size, plastid differentiation status and the density of plastids within the cell

Stromules are motile extensions of the plastid envelope membrane, whose roles are not fully understood. They are present on all plastid types but are more common and extensive on non-green plastids that are sparsely distributed within the cell. During tomato fruit ripening, chloroplasts in the mesocarp tissue differentiate into chromoplasts and undergo major shifts in morphology. In order to understand what factors regulate stromule formation, we analysed stromule biogenesis in tobacco hypocotyls and in two distinct plastid populations in tomato mesocarp. We show that increases in stromule length and frequency are correlated with chromoplast differentiation, but only in one plastid population where the plastids are larger and less numerous. We used tobacco hypocotyls to confirm that stromule length increases as plastids become further apart, suggesting that stromules optimize the plastid-cytoplasm contact area. Furthermore, we demonstrate that ectopic chloroplast components decrease stromule formation on tomato fruit chromoplasts, whereas preventing chloroplast development leads to increased numbers of stromules. Inhibition of fruit ripening has a dramatic impact on plastid and stromule morphology, underlining that plastid differentiation status, and not cell type, is a significant factor in determining the extent of plastid stromules. By modifying the plastid surface area, we propose that stromules enhance the specific metabolic activities of plastids.     

Restriction enzyme analysis of tomato chloroplast and chromoplast DNA

Plastid DNA was isolated from the chloroplasts of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum var Traveler 76) leaves and the chromoplasts of ripe tomato fruit. Comparisons of the two DNAs were made by restriction endonuclease analysis using PvuII, HpaI, and Bg1I. No differences in the electrophoretic banding patterns of the restricted plastid DNAs were detected, indicating that no major rearrangements, losses, or gains of plastid DNA accompany the transition from chloroplast to chromoplast.     

Studies on the Conversion of Chloroplast to Chromoplast During Fruit Ripening in Solanum pseudo-capsicum var. diflorum

Determination of chlorophyll and carotenoid contents in the ectocarp during fruit ripening in Solanum pseudo-capsicum var. diflorurn (Veil.) Bitter revealed that the changes of fruit colour coincided with the decline of chlorophyll and the increase of carotenoid contents. The conversion of chloroplasts to chromoplasts in the fruit was studied by electron microscopy. The early green fruit was characterized by chloroplasts with a typical grana-intergranal thylakoid structure. At yellow-green fruit stage the thylakoid system was disintegrated and replaced by few non-chlorophyllous single thylakoids, with accumulation of large osmiophilic plastoglobules. The plastids developed as the so-called proplastids. These indicated dedifferentiation of chloroplasts in a ripening fruit. When the fruit reached its yellow stage, numerous large plastoglobules contained in the young chromoplasts frequently showed transitional changes to plastid tubule structure. At first, the center of plastoglobules became semi-translucent. It was believed that the young chromoplast were in an initial state of carotenoid deposition, followed by plastoglobules elongation and tubule protrution from the globules. These tubules were surrounded with an electron dense membranous sheath leaving the core semi-translucent. Concurrently a series of vesicles in different developmental stages appeared from the stroma of the plastid, likely representing a process of formation of numerous small new plastoglobules. In the chromoplasts of a ripe orange-or orange red-colored fruit only numerous tubules and small plastoglobules were present. The plastid tubules increased in number and elongated in length filling the mature chromoplast. Numerous small plastoglobules also increased and distributed in the spaces between tubules. These results indicated that the reconstruction of a mature chromoplast from a dedifferentiated plastid was really a form of redifferentiation, and it might be concluded that the conversion of chloroplast to chromoplast in the fruit of S. pseudo-capsicum var. diflorum, in fact, was a processes of dedifferentiation and redifferentiation.     

Chloroplast to chromoplast transition in tomato fruit: spectral confocal microscopy analyses of carotenoids and chlorophylls in isolated plastids and time-lapse recording on intact live tissue

Background and Aims

There are several studies suggesting that tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) chromoplasts arise from chloroplasts, but there is still no report showing the fluorescence of both chlorophylls and carotenoids in an intermediate plastid, and no video showing this transition phase.

Methods

Pigment fluorescence within individual plastids, isolated from tomato fruit using sucrose gradients, was observed at different ripening stages, and an in situ real-time recording of pigment fluorescence was performed on live tomato fruit slices.

Key results

At the mature green and red stages, homogenous fractions of chloroplasts and chromoplasts were obtained, respectively. At the breaker stage, spectral confocal microscopy showed that intermediate plastids contained both chlorophylls and carotenoids. Furthermore, an in situ real-time recording (a) showed that the chloroplast to chromoplast transition was synchronous for all plastids of a single cell; and (b) confirmed that all chromoplasts derived from pre-existing chloroplasts.

Conclusions

These results give details of the early steps of tomato chromoplast biogenesis from chloroplasts, with the formation of intermediate plastids containing both carotenoids and chlorophylls. They provide information at the sub-cellular level on the synchronism of plastid transition and pigment changes.     

Photosynthetic and Heterotrophic Ferredoxin Isoproteins Are Colocalized in Fruit Plastids of Tomato

Fruit tissues of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) contain both photosynthetic and heterotrophic ferredoxin (FdA and FdE, respectively) isoproteins, irrespective of their photosynthetic competence, but we did not previously determine whether these proteins were colocalized in the same plastids. In isolated fruit chloroplasts and chromoplasts, both FdA and FdE were detected by immunoblotting. Colocalization of FdA and FdE in the same plastids was demonstrated using double-staining immunofluorescence microscopy. We also found that FdA and FdE were colocalized in fruit chloroplasts and chloroamyloplasts irrespective of sink status of the plastid. Immunoelectron microscopy demonstrated that FdA and FdE were randomly distributed within the plastid stroma. To investigate the significance of the heterotrophic Fd in fruit plastids, Glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) activity was measured in isolated fruit and leaf plastids. Fruit chloroplasts and chromoplasts showed much higher G6PDH activity than did leaf chloroplasts, suggesting that high G6PDH activity is linked with FdE to maintain nonphotosynthetic production of reducing power. This result suggested that, despite their morphological resemblance, fruit chloroplasts are functionally different from their leaf counterparts.     

Localization of the enzyme geranylgeranylpyrophosphate synthase in Capsicum fruits by immunogold cytochemistry after conventional chemical fixation or quick-freezing followed by freeze-substitution. Labelling evolution during fruit ripening

The enzyme geranylgeranylpyrophosphate synthase (GGPPS), which plays a key role in the synthesis of diterpene compounds, carotenoids and higher terpenoids, has been localized in Capsicum fruit cells by ultrastructural immunogold cytochemistry, after conventional chemical fixation of tissues and quick-freezing followed by freeze-substitution of isolated chloroplasts and chromoplasts. In agreement with previous biochemical studies on cell fractions, the enzyme seems restricted to the plastid compartment. Together with the phenotypic changes of the fruit and the ultrastructural modifications of the plastids during the transition of chloroplasts to chromoplasts, the amount of immunolabelling over plastid sections increases more than a ten-fold factor in the course of fruit ripening. In chemically fixed tissues, the gold labelling of chloroplasts is very faint and erratically localized whereas in further transition stages, and in chromoplasts, most of the gold particles surround the developing plastoglobuli, which are the characteristic carotenoid-bearing structures. Because of the very low and inconstant labelling of chloroplasts in green fruits after chemical fixation, cryofixed and acetone freeze-substituted purified plastids were used as a model system for an accurate localization of the enzyme in these organelles. Quick-freezing in buffered sucrose by slam-freezing on a cold copper block results in optimal preservation of the plastids and improved labelling of GGPPS. The enzyme is not scattered at random throughout the stroma. Gold particles are concentrated in distinct stroma regions, and especially at the sites of initiation of stroma globuli which are the early structural event of carotenoid accumulation. A few gold particles are also present on the margins of thylakoids and, presumably, on the plastid envelope. This paper reports further evidence of the central role of the plastid compartment in the production of C20 isoprenoid intermediates in the plant cell, shows the spatial relationship of the enzyme geranylgeranylpyrophosphate synthase with the plastid substructures and the existence of several GGPPS pools within the plastids. It demonstrates the interest of cryo-methods for an accurate localization of various enzymes in plant cells.     

珊瑚豆果实成熟过程中叶绿体转化为杂色体的研究

珊瑚豆 (Solanum pseudo- capsicum var.diflorum (Vell.) Bitter)果实成熟过程中 ,果实颜色的变化和叶绿素含量降低及类胡萝卜素含量增长相符合。对果实中叶绿体转化为杂色体进行了电镜观察。早期绿色果实的特点是叶绿体具典型的基粒 -基粒间类囊体结构。在黄绿色果实时期叶绿体类囊体系统解体 ,代之以少数非叶绿素的单个类囊体和积累大的嗜锇的质体小球。质体转变为所谓的原质体。这表明叶绿体在果实成熟中的脱分化过程。当果实达到黄色阶段 ,这些质体所含的质体小球开始从中央形成质体小管的结构。最初质体小球中央变为半透明 ,认为是质体累积胡萝卜素的开始。随着质体小球的延长 ,小管从小球中伸出。这些小管围以电子致密的膜 ,中央是半透明的轴心。与此同时 ,在质体基质中出现一系列发育不同阶段的小泡 ,似乎是形成新的质体小球的过程。在成熟的橙色和橙红色果实中的杂色体中只包含无数小管和小的质体小球。质体小管在数量和长度上增长 ,充满成熟的杂色体。无数质体小球分布在小管之间的空间中。成熟杂色体从脱分化的原质体的重建是真正的再分化过程。可以作出结论 ,珊瑚豆果实叶绿体转化为杂色体实质上是一个脱分化和再分化过程     

CHROMOPLASTS OF TOMATO FRUITS. I. ULTRASTRUCTURE OF LOW-PIGMENT AND HIGH-BETA MUTANTS. CAROTENE ANALYSES

Three pigment lines of the tomato cultivar ‘Pearson’ with isogenic backgrounds were studied to determine the relationship between certain carotenoids and the development of chromoplasts during fruit ripening. The lines were normal red (r⁺/r⁺), in which about 90% of the carotenoids in the ripe fruit is lycopene; high-beta (B/B) mutant, in which beta-carotene is the major pigment and the mature fruit color is deep orange ; and low-pigment (r/r) mutant, in which carotenoids are drastically reduced and the mature fruit is pale yellow-orange. This paper reports pigment analyses for the three lines and the ultrastructural changes in plastids of the two mutant lines. Very young, pale green fruits contain proplastids with limited lamellar structure. As the fruits reach the mature green stage, the plastids in all three lines develop into typical chloroplasts. Differences in pigment content and in ultrastructure among the lines are not apparent until ripening commences. In the low-pigment mutant carotenoids are reduced as ripening progresses and no carotenoid crystalloids are formed. As chlorophyll decreases the fruits become pale yellow. The grana become disorganized and the thylakoids appear to separate at the partitions and tend to be arrayed in lines, some still with their ends overlapping. Globules increase slightly in number. In the high-beta mutant the grana break down during ripening and globules increase greatly in size and number. Beta-carotene, presumed to be largely in the globules, crystallizes into elongated or druse type forms which may distort the globules. The crystals may affect the shape of the chromoplasts; long crystals may extend the length of the plastid to over 15 μ. Thylakoid plexes with a regular lattice structure sometimes occur in the chromoplasts of the high-beta mutant. Granules resembling aggregations of phytoferritin particles occur in the chromoplasts of both of these mutants.     

Stable genetic transformation of tomato plastids and expression of a foreign protein in fruit

Transgenic chloroplasts offer unique advantages in plant biotechnology, including high-level foreign protein expression, absence of epigenetic effects, and gene containment due to the lack of transgene transmission through pollen. However, broad application of plastid genome engineering in biotechnology has been largely hampered by both the lack of chloroplast transformation systems for major crop plants and the usually low plastid gene expression levels in nongreen tissues such as fruits, tubers, and other storage organs. Here we describe the development of a plastid transformation system for tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum. This is the first report on the generation of fertile transplastomic plants in a food crop with an edible fruit. We show that chromoplasts in the tomato fruit express the transgene to approximately 50% of the expression levels in leaf chloroplasts. Given the generally very high foreign protein accumulation rates that can be achieved in transgenic chloroplasts (>40% of the total soluble protein), this system paves the way to efficient production of edible vaccines, pharmaceuticals, and antibodies in tomato.     

Plastid Ontogeny during Petal Development in Arabidopsis

Imaging of chlorophyll autofluorescence by confocal microscopy in intact whole petals of Arabidopsis thaliana has been used to analyze chloroplast development and redifferentiation during petal development. Young petals dissected from unopened buds contained green chloroplasts throughout their structure, but as the upper part of the petal lamina developed and expanded, plastids lost their chlorophyll and redifferentiated into leukoplasts, resulting in a white petal blade. Normal green chloroplasts remained in the stalk of the mature petal. In epidermal cells the chloroplasts were normal and green, in stark contrast with leaf epidermal cell plastids. In addition, the majority of these chloroplasts had dumbbell shapes, typical of dividing chloroplasts, and we suggest that the rapid expansion of petal epidermal cells may be a trigger for the initiation of chloroplast division. In petals of the Arabidopsis plastid division mutant arc6, the conversion of chloroplasts into leukoplasts was unaffected in spite of the greatly enlarged size and reduced number of arc6 chloroplasts in cells in the petal base, resulting in few enlarged leukoplasts in cells from the white lamina of arc6 petals.     

Changes in the protein and activity levels of the plastid NADH–plastoquinone–oxidoreductase complex during fruit development

Plastids contain an NADH dehydrogenase complex (Ndh complex) homologous to the mitochondrial complex I (EC 1.6.5.3). In this work, we have analysed the changes in the Ndh complex during ripening of pepper (Capsicum annum L., cv. Maor) and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill., cv. Marglobe) fruits. The Ndh complex was mainly present in the outer pericarp of tomato fruits, whereas it was evenly distributed in the pericarp of pepper. In both kinds of fruit we observed a decrease in the total amount of Ndh complex from the green to the red stage of development. This decrease corresponds to parallel decreases in the content and activity of the complex in plastids during the transition from chloroplasts to chromoplasts. Levels of plastidial quinol peroxidase activity were also higher during the first stages of tomato fruit development than during the latter stages of ripening. However, when referred to total plastid protein, the amount and activity of the Ndh complex in chloroplasts isolated from green fruits was higher than in chloroplasts isolated from leaves. These results strongly suggest that function of the Ndh complex, probably related to a plastidial electron transport chain, can be important during the first stages of fruit development.