Altered rates of protein transport in Arabidopsis mutants deficient in chloroplast membrane unsaturation

Protein transfer across membranes is mediated by protein machinery embedded in the membrane. The complement of different lipid classes within a membrane is known to influence the efficiency of some protein translocation processes, but very little is known about whether the fatty acid composition of the membrane bilayer also affects protein transport. We investigated this issue using three mutants of Arabidopsis, fad6, fad5, and fad3 fad7 fad8, that have reduced levels of fatty acid unsaturation in their thylakoid membranes. Interestingly, the effect of reduced unsaturation was different for three distinct pathways of protein transport. In thylakoids from all three mutants, transport of the OE17 protein on the DeltapH/Tat pathway was reduced by up to 50% relative to wild-type controls, when assays were run at 10, 20 or 30 degrees C. By contrast, transport of the OE33 protein on the Sec pathway was substantially increased in all the mutants at the three temperatures. Transport of the CF(O)II protein (ATPg) on the 'spontaneous' pathway was largely unaffected by reduced unsaturation of the thylakoid membranes. Experiments with intact chloroplasts from wild-type Arabidopsis and the three mutants confirmed these changes in thylakoid transport reactions and also demonstrated an increased rate of protein import across the chloroplast envelope in each of the mutants. This increased capacity of chloroplast protein import may partially compensate for the reduced capacity of thylakoid transport by the DeltapH/Tat pathway. The fad5, fad6 and fad3 fad7 fad8 mutants used in this study grow normally at 15-20 degrees C, but exhibit reduced photosynthesis and growth, relative to wild-type controls, at low temperatures (4 degrees C). The results reported here indicate that protein transport and chloroplast biogenesis may well contribute to these low-temperature phenotypes.