Partial blocks in the early steps of the chlorophyll synthesis pathway: A common feature of chlorophyll b-deficient mutants

We have analyzed precursor pools in the chlorophyll (Chi) synthesis pathway for a set of eighteen well studied Chl b -defident mutants in monocotyledonous (barley, maize and wheat) and dicotyledonous plants ( Antirrhinum, Arabidopsis , soybean, tobacco and tomato) that form abnormal thylakoid membrane systems. All of these mutants have a partial block in Chl synthesis and nearly all of them accumulate protoporphyrin IX (Proto), the last porphyrin compound common to both heme and Chl synthesis. The large number of mutants at several genetic loci affecting this critical branchpoint in tetrapyrrole biosynthesis suggests that the Mg-chelatase enzyme, catalyzing the first committed step of Chi biosynthesis, is a multimeric complex composed of the products of some of these genetic loci, and perhaps regulated by others. We hypothesize that these mutants are Chi b -deficient and have reduced amounts of light-harvesting antenna complexes (LHCs.) and develop abnormal thylakoid membranes as a direct result of limited Chl synthesis. The observed bottleneck in Chl synthesis can also explain the light-intensity-dependent and temperature-dependent expression of the mutant phenotype. This hypothesis offers a simple explanation for the wide variety of pbenotypes that have been reported for the many Chl-deficient mutants in the literature. Our findings are also consistent with the notion that Chl b is made from "left over" Chl a molecules and suggest that the Chi b -deficient mutants should be considered more appropriately as leaky Chl-deficient mutants.     

Chlorophyll-deficient gene and morphological variations in Korean populations of maize (Zea mays)

We studied cultivated and naturalized Korean maize populations to determine the extent to which the chlorophylldeficient mutation and the phenotypic variations of two morphological characters (i.e., red coleoptiles and epicotyls, and the number of the first root hairs) are maintained. The frequency of the chlorophyll-deficient mutant gene (2.73% on average) was highly variable. Frequencies of red coleoptiles and epicotyls also were higher than expected from a mutation-selection balance. The average number of hairy phenotypes within populations was 1.8, ranging from 0.0 to 4.0. Naturalized populations were closely related to with cultivated communities. Most striking, however, was the more significant difference among populations than within populations with regard to both the frequency of chlorophyll-deficient mutant genes and the phenotypic variations of our two morphological characters. On a per-gene basis, the majority of the phenotypic variation (mean of 73.3%) resided among populations.     

Non-destructive assessment of chlorophyll-deficient mutants of maize (Zea mays L.) by photoacoustic spectroscopy

Photoacoustic spectroscopy is an efficient tool for the non-destructive assessment of chlorophyll and carotenoid deficient mutants of Zea mays L. Intact leaf samples taken from the mutants Albina, Luteus I and Luteus II were compared with those from the corresponding isogenic normals. The results are compared with those obtained applying some commonly used destructive techniques.     

一个新的水稻叶绿素缺失黄叶突变体的特征及基因分子定位

从粳稻“嘉花1号”⁶⁰Coγ射线辐照的后代中筛选到一个叶绿素缺失黄叶突变体(yl11), 与野生型“嘉花1号”相比该突变体表现为全生育期植株叶片呈黄色, 叶绿素含量以及净光合速率明显下降, 叶绿体发育不完善, 并且伴随着株高等主要农艺性状的变化。遗传分析表明, 该突变性状受一对隐性核基因(yl11)控制。该突变体与籼稻“培矮64S”杂交生产的F₂、F₃群体中的分离出突变体型920个单株作为定位群体, 利用SSR和InDel分子标记将yl11基因定位在水稻第11染色体长臂上的MM2199和ID21039分子标记之间, 其物理距离约为110 kb, 目前该区域内没有发现与水稻叶绿素合成/叶绿体发育相关已知功能基因。研究结果为今后对该基因的克隆和功能分析奠定了基础。     

一个新的水稻叶绿素缺失黄叶突变体的特征及基因分子定位

从粳稻"嘉花1号"60Coγ射线辐照的后代中筛选到一个叶绿素缺失黄叶突变体(yl11),与野生型"嘉花1号"相比该突变体表现为全生育期植株叶片呈黄色,叶绿素含量以及净光合速率明显下降,叶绿体发育不完善,并且伴随着株高等主要农艺性状的变化。遗传分析表明,该突变性状受一对隐性核基因(yl11)控制。该突变体与籼稻"培矮64S"杂交生产的F2、F3群体中的分离出突变体型920个单株作为定位群体,利用SSR和InDel分子标记将yl11基因定位在水稻第11染色体长臂上的MM2199和ID21039分子标记之间,其物理距离约为110kb,目前该区域内没有发现与水稻叶绿素合成/叶绿体发育相关已知功能基因。研究结果为今后对该基因的克隆和功能分析奠定了基础。     

油菜黄化突变体蛋白质组分析：两种蛋白质提取方法比较

以芥菜型油菜黄化突变体L638-y及其野生型L638-g五叶期叶片为材料,用IEF/SDS-PAGE双向凝胶电泳技术对两种不同蛋白质提取方法(TCA/丙酮沉淀法和改进的PEG分级沉淀法)进行了比较,同时在IPG胶条pH范围及SDS-PAGE胶浓度选择上进行了探索与优化．结果表明,以pH 4～7 17 cm的线性IPG胶条进行IEF,11% SDS-PAGE进行第二向电泳,每350 μl体系上样量为180 μg,蛋白质可以得到较好的分离,2-DE图谱质量最佳．用改进的PEG分级沉淀法提取的突变体L638-y叶片总蛋白的2-DE图谱可清晰识别的蛋白质点数目为(1235 ± 6)个,比TCA/丙酮沉淀法多识别出330个蛋白质点;用该方法提取蛋白质时,在突变体L638-y与其野生型L638-g叶片总蛋白2-DE图谱上可识别出差异蛋白质点数目为190个,比用TCA/丙酮沉淀法提取蛋白质时多鉴别出100个差异蛋白质点．由此表明,研究芥菜型油菜黄化突变体L638-y叶片蛋白质组变化,采用改进的PEG分级沉淀法提取蛋白质更为简单有效．