The plastid rpoA gene encoding a protein homologous to the bacterial RNA polymerase alpha subunit is expressed in pea chloroplasts

Summary The gene rpoA, encoding a protein homologous to the alpha subunit of RNA polymerase from Escherichia coli has been located in pea chloroplast DNA downstream of the petD gene for subunit IV of the cytochrome b-f complex. Nucleotide sequence analysis has revealed that rpoA encodes a polypeptide of 334 amino acid residues with a molecular weight of 38916. Northern blot analysis has shown that rpoA is co-transcribed with the gene for ribosomal protein S11. A lacZ-rpoA gene-fusion has been constructed and expressed in E. coli. Antibodies raised against the fusion protein have been employed to demonstrate the synthesis of the rpoA gene product in isolated pea chloroplasts. Western blot analysis using these antibodies and antibodies against the RNA polymerase core enzyme from the cyanobacterium, Anabaena 7120, has revealed the presence of the gene product in a crude RNA polymerase preparation from pea chloroplasts.     

Characterization of Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens) Chloroplast EF-Tu cDNA

A geranium (Pelargonium graveolens) chloroplast translational elongation factor EF-Tu (tufA) cDNA was isolated. The geranium tufA cDNA is 1,584 bp long with 20 bp of 5 untranslated region (UTR) and 139 bp of 3 UTR. It encodes 474 amino acids including a putative chloroplast transit peptide of 65 amino acids. The deduced polypeptides of the geranium tufA cDNA contains four GTP binding sequences in its N-terminal region and two chloroplast EF-Tu signature regions in the C-terminal region. The predicted molecular weight of the mature geranium chloroplast EF-Tu protein was about 45,000 and its amino acid sequence identity with the chloroplast EF-Tu proteins of tobacco, pea, Arabidopsis, rice, and soybean ranges from 85% to 91%. The geranium tufA appears to exist as a single copy gene like Arabidopsis and rice, whereas other known dicot plants have more than one copy in their nuclear genomes.     

苦瓜谷胱甘肽磷脂氢过氧化物酶cDNA的克隆及其特征分析

根据谷胱甘肽磷脂氢过氧化物酶(PHGPX)氨基酸序列中高度保守的区段设计引物,采用RACE-PCR从苦瓜中克隆到一个全长927 bp的cDNA片段.DNA序列的数据库分析比较表明,该cDNA编码167个氨基酸,含有动植物PHGPX的特征结构,是一个新发现的苦瓜PHGPX基因（mocPHGPX）.RNA印迹结果显示,该基因在苦瓜幼苗的根中表达相对较弱,茎的信号较强,叶中最强.这些结果将有助于深入研究植物PHGPX的功能以及全面了解植物抗氧化体系.     

Pea chloroplast DNA primase: characterization and role in initiation of replication

A DNA primase activity was isolated from pea chloroplasts and examined for its role in replication. The DNA primase activity was separated from the majority of the chloroplast RNA polymerase activity by linear salt gradient elution from a DEAE-cellulose column, and the two enzyme activities were separately purified through heparin-Sepharose columns. The primase activity was not inhibited by tagetitoxin, a specific inhibitor of chloroplast RNA polymerase, or by polyclonal antibodies prepared against purified pea chloroplast RNA polymerase, while the RNA polymerase activity was inhibited completely by either tagetitoxin or the polyclonal antibodies. The DNA primase activity was capable of priming DNA replication on single-stranded templates including poly(dT), poly(dC), M13mp19, and M13mp19_+ 2.1, which contains the AT-rich pea chloroplast origin of replication. The RNA polymerase fraction was incapable of supporting incorporation of ³H-TTP in in vitro replication reactions using any of these single-stranded DNA templates. Glycerol gradient analysis indicated that the pea chloroplast DNA primase (115–120 kDa) separated from the pea chloroplast DNA polymerase (90 kDa), but is much smaller than chloroplast RNA polymerase. Because of these differences in size, template specificity, sensitivity to inhibitors, and elution characteristics, it is clear that the pea chloroplast DNA primase is an distinct enzyme form RNA polymerase. In vitro replication activity using the DNA primase fraction required all four rNTPs for optimum activity. The chloroplast DNA primase was capable of priming DNA replication activity on any single-stranded M13 template, but shows a strong preference for M13mp19+2.1. Primers synthesized using M13mp19+2.1 are resistant to DNase I, and range in size from 4 to about 60 nucleotides.     

Contrasting effect of dark-chilling on chloroplast structure and arrangement of chlorophyll-protein complexes in pea and tomato: plants with a different susceptibility to non-freezing temperature

The effect of dark-chilling and subsequent photoactivation on chloroplast structure and arrangements of chlorophyll–protein complexes in thylakoid membranes was studied in chilling-tolerant (CT) pea and in chilling-sensitive (CS) tomato. Dark-chilling did not influence chlorophyll content and Chl a/b ratio in thylakoids of both species. A decline of Chl a fluorescence intensity and an increase of the ratio of fluorescence intensities of PSI and PSII at 120 K was observed after dark-chilling in thylakoids isolated from tomato, but not from pea leaves. Chilling of pea leaves induced an increase of the relative contribution of LHCII and PSII fluorescence. A substantial decrease of the LHCII/PSII fluorescence accompanied by an increase of that from LHCI/PSI was observed in thylakoids from chilled tomato leaves; both were attenuated by photoactivation. Chlorophyll fluorescence of bright grana discs in chloroplasts from dark-chilled leaves, detected by confocal laser scanning microscopy, was more condensed in pea but significantly dispersed in tomato, compared with control samples. The chloroplast images from transmission-electron microscopy revealed that dark-chilling induced an increase of the degree of grana stacking only in pea chloroplasts. Analyses of O-J-D-I-P fluorescence induction curves in leaves of CS tomato before and after recovery from chilling indicate changes in electron transport rates at acceptor- and donor side of PS II and an increase in antenna size. In CT pea leaves these effects were absent, except for a small but irreversible effect on PSII activity and antenna size. Thus, the differences in chloroplast structure between CS and CT plants, induced by dark-chilling are a consequence of different thylakoid supercomplexes rearrangements. Dedicated to Prof. Zbigniew Kaniuga on the 25th anniversary of his initiation of studies on chilling-induced stress in plants.     

Light absorption by isolated chloroplasts and leaves: effects of scattering and ‘packing’

Light absorption was quantified in the following systems: isolated chloroplasts and leaves of spinach (Spinacea oleracea L.), a mutant of geranium (Pelargonium zonale L.) widely differing in pigment content, and coleus (Coleus blumei Benth.) at different stages of leaf ontogenesis. For these species and pea (Pisum sativum L.), scattering-compensated absorption spectra of chloroplast suspensions are presented. Comparison of leaf and chloroplast spectra showed considerable changes in the extent of the ‘package’ effect and the lengthening of the effective optical path in a leaf. The difference between leaf and isolated chloroplast absorption could be quantitatively described by adapting Duysens’s treatment of flattening. It was found that the accumulation of chlorophyll in leaves is accompanied by a monotonous enhancement of the package effect. The results are discussed with special reference to the role of light scattering in leaf optics, light utilization in photosynthesis and wavelength-dependent light gradients in a leaf.     

Sulfonamide resistance gene for plant transformation

The sulfonamide resistance gene from plasmid R46 encodes for a mutated dihydropteroate synthase insensitive to inhibition by sulfonamides. Its coding sequence was fused to the pea ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase transit peptide sequence. Incubation of isolated chloroplasts with the fusion protein synthesised in vitro, showed that the bacterial enzyme was transported to the chloroplast stroma and processed into a mature form. Expression of the gene fusion in transgenic plants resulted in a high level of resistance to sulfonamides. Direct selection of transformed shoots on leaf explants was efficient using sulfonamides as sole selective agents. Transformed shoots rooted normally on sulfonamides at concentrations toxic for untransformed ones. Sulfonamide resistance was transmitted to the progeny of transformed plants as a single Mendelian dominant character. These results demonstrate that this chimeric gene can be used as an efficient and versatile selectable marker for plant transformation.     

Pea chloroplast topoisomerase I: purification,characterization, and role in replication

A DNA-relaxing enzyme was purified 5 000-fold to homogeneity from isolated chloroplasts of Pisum sativum. The enzyme consists of a single polypeptide of 112 kDa. The enzyme was able to relax negatively supercoiled DNA in the absence of ATP. It is resistant to nalidixic acid and novobiocin, and causes a unit change in the linkage number of supercoiled DNA. The enzyme shows optimum activity at 37°C with 50 mM KCl and 10 mM MgCl₂. From these properties, the enzyme can be classified as a prokaryotic type I topoisomerase.Using a partiall purified pea chloroplast DNA polymerase fraction devoid of topoisomerase I activity for in vitro replication on clones containing the pea chloroplast DNA origins of replication, a 2–6-fold stimulation of replication activity was obtained when the purified topoisomerase I was added to the reaction at 70–100 mM KCl. However, when the same reaction was carried out at 125 mM KCl, which does not affect DNA polymerase activity on calf thymus DNA but is completely inhibitory for topoisomerase I activity, a 4-fold drop in activity resulted. Novobiocin, an inhibitor of topoisomerase II, was not found to inhibit the in vitro replication of chloroplast DNA.     

Synthesis and accumulation of pea plastocyanin in transgenic tobacco plants

The pea plastocyanin gene in a 3.5 kbp Eco RI fragment of pea nuclear DNA was introduced into tobacco by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Regenerated plants contained pea plastocyanin located within the chloroplast thylakoid membrane system. Analysis of seedlings from a self-pollinated transgenic plant containing a single copy of the pea plastocyanin gene indicated that seedlings homozygous for the pea gene contained almost twice as much pea plastocyanin as seedlings hemizygous for the pea gene. Homozygous seedlings contained approximately equal amounts of pea and tobacco plastocyanins. The amount of tobacco plastocyanin in leaves of transgenic plants was unaffected by the expression of the pea plastocyanin gene. The mRNA from the pea gene in tobacco was indistinguishable by northern blotting and S1 nuclease protection from the mRNA found in pea. In both pea and transgenic tobacco, expression of the pea plastocyanin gene was induced by light in leaves but was suppressed in roots. Pea plastocyanin free of contaminating tobacco plastocyanin was purified from transgenic tobacco plants and shown to be indistinguishable from natural pea plastocyanin by N-terminal protein sequencing and ¹H NMR spectroscopy.     

CP12: a small nuclear-encoded chloroplast protein provides novel insights into higher-plant GAPDH evolution

Higher-plant chloroplast NAD(P)-glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (NAD(P)-GAPDH; EC 1.2.1.13) is composed of two different nuclear-encoded subunits, GAPA and GAPB, forming the highly active heterotetrameric A₂B₂ enzyme. The main difference between these two subunits is a C-terminal extension of about 30 amino acid residues of GAPB. We present cDNA clones for a nuclear-encoded chloroplast protein from pea, spinach and tobacco, which we have named CP12. The mature protein consists of only 74, 75 and 76 amino acid residues, respectively and contains two domains with significant homology to the C-terminal extension of GAPB. Affinity chromatography approaches reveal also a specific interaction between CP12 and chloroplast GAPDH. Northern blot analysis indicates that CP12 is, like plastid GAPDH, expressed in green and also in etiolated leaves. Further homology is observed between CP12 and ORF3, an open reading frame located in the hox gene cluster of Anabaena variabilis. This gene cluster encodes the subunits of the bidirectional NADP⁺-dependent [NiFeS] dehydrogenase. We propose therefore a common evolutionary origin of CP12 and higher-plant chloroplast GAPDH subunit GAPB from the cyanobacterial ORF3.     

Fine Chloroplast Structure in Cucumber and Pea Leaves Developed under Red Light

Photosynthetic activity, the content of various photosynthetic pigments, and the chloroplast ultrastructure were examined in the leaves of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) and pea (Pisum sativum L.) plants of different ages grown under red light (600–700 nm, 100 W/m²). In pea leaves tolerant to red-light irradiation, chloroplast ultrastructure did not essentially change. In the first true leaves of cucumber plants susceptible to red-light irradiation, we observed a considerable increase in the number and size of plastoglobules, the appearance of chloroplasts lacking grana or containing only infrequent grana, and stromal thylakoids. In the upper leaves of 22-day-old cucumber plants, the chloroplast structure was essentially similar to that of the control chloroplasts in white light, and we therefore suppose that these plants have acclimated to red light.     

Deep genomic analysis of the Chlorella sorokiniana SAG 211-8k chloroplast

The chloroplast genome contains information that is applicable in many scientific fields, such as plant systematics, phylogenetic reconstruction and biotechnology, because its features are highly conserved among species. To date, several complete green algal chloroplast genomes have been sequenced and assembled. In this study, the nucleotide sequence of the chloroplast genome (cpDNA) of Chlorella sorokiniana SAG 211-8k is reported and compared for the first time to the chloroplast genomes of 10 Chlorellaceae. The recently updated Chlorella sorokiniana cpDNA sequence, assembled as a circular map of 109?811 bp, encodes 113 genes. Similar to other Chlorella strains, this chloroplast genome does not show a quadripartite structure and lacks the large rRNA operon-encoding Inverted Repeat (IR). The Chlorella sorokiniana plastid encodes the tRNA(Ile)-lysidine synthetase (tilS), which is responsible for modifying the CAU anticodon of a unique tRNA. Gene ordering and clustering highlight the close relationships among Chlorella clade members and the preservation of crucial gene clusters in photosynthetic strains. The features of Chlorella sorokiniana presented here reinforce the monophyletic character of Chlorellaceae and provide important information that sheds light on chloroplast genome evolution among species of Chlorella.     

ANALYSIS OF HETEROSIGMA CARTERAE1 (CHROMOPHYTA,RAPHIDOPHYCEAE) CHLOROPLAST rpoB GENE SEQUENCE2

The rpoB gene encoding the β-subunit of RNA Polymerase has been isolated from the chloroplast genome of the chromophytic alga Heterosigma carterae (Taylor 1992). The nucleotide sequence contains an open reading frame of 3348 bp, which encodes 1116 amino acids. The H. carterae rpoB gene structure is similar to that of chlorophytic chloroplast rpoB genes with respect to insertion-deletion domains. However, several conserved residues found in all chlorophytic plants and bacterial rpoB genes have not been found in this alga. This is the first nonchlorophytic chloroplast rpoB gene to be analyzed, and our data provide insight concerning regions, and perhaps particular residues, that may be essential to chloroplast RNA polymerase function.