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Chilling sensitivity of Arabidopsis thaliana with genetically engineered membrane lipids.
Author(s) -
Wolter F.P.,
Schmidt R.,
Heinz E.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1992.tb05573.x
Subject(s) - biology , arabidopsis thaliana , arabidopsis , genetically modified crops , genetically engineered , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , transgene , gene , mutant
Upon transfer of a genetically engineered Escherichia coli gene for glycerol‐3‐phosphate acyltransferase (plsB) to Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh., the gene is transcribed and translated into an enzymatically active polypeptide. This leads to an alteration in fatty acid composition of membrane lipids. From these alterations it is evident that the enzyme is located mainly inside the plastids. The amount of saturated fatty acids in plastidial membrane lipids increased. In particular, the fraction of high‐temperature melting species of phosphatidylglycerol is elevated. These molecules are thought to play a crucial role in determining chilling sensitivity of plants. An increase in sensitivity could be observed in the transgenic plants during recultivation after chilling treatment. Implications for the hypothesis of phosphatidylglycerol‐determined chilling sensitivity are discussed.