BIGYIN, an orthologue of human and yeast FIS1 genes functions in the control of mitochondrial size and number in Arabidopsis thaliana

Reverse-genetics was used to evaluate the role of an Arabidopsis homologue of the human and yeast FIS1 genes, which are both involved in mitochondrial fission. Two independent T-DNA insertion mutants of gene At3g57090 were identified and genetically transformed to express mitochondria-targeted GFP to enable visualization of mitochondria in vivo. Plants homozygous for either of the recessive T-DNA mutant alleles, termed bigyin1-1 (bgy1-1) and bigyin1-2 (bgy1-2), displayed an abnormal mitochondrial morphology. Disruption of BIGYIN leads to a reduced number of mitochondria per cell, coupled to a large increase in the size of individual mitochondria, relative to wild-type. It is concluded that BIGYIN is an Arabidopsis FIS orthologue and is part of the Arabidopsis mitochondrial division apparatus.