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Arabidopsis phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthase 1 is essential for chloroplast differentiation, but is dispensable for mitochondrial function
Author(s) -
Babiychuk Elena,
Müller Frank,
Eubel Holger,
Braun HansPeter,
Frentzen Margrit,
Kushnir Sergei
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
the plant journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.058
H-Index - 269
eISSN - 1365-313X
pISSN - 0960-7412
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-313x.2003.01680.x
Subject(s) - cardiolipin , phosphatidylglycerol , biochemistry , biology , plastid , chloroplast , thylakoid , arabidopsis , atp synthase , mutant , mitochondrion , endoplasmic reticulum , arabidopsis thaliana , biogenesis , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , phospholipid , membrane , phosphatidylcholine
Summary Genetic dissection of the lipid bilayer composition provides essential in vivo evidence for the role of individual lipid species in membrane function. To understand the in vivo role of the anionic phospholipid, phosphatidylglycerol, the loss‐of‐function mutation was identified and characterized in the Arabidopsis thaliana gene coding for phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthase 1, PGP1. This mutation resulted in pigment‐deficient plants of the xantha type in which the biogenesis of thylakoid membranes was severely compromised. The PGP1 gene coded for a precursor polypeptide that was targeted in vivo to both plastids and mitochondria. The activity of the plastidial PGP1 isoform was essential for the biosynthesis of phosphatidylglycerol in chloroplasts, whereas the mitochondrial PGP1 isoform was redundant for the accumulation of phosphatidylglycerol and its derivative cardiolipin in plant mitochondrial membranes. Together with findings in cyanobacteria, these data demonstrated that anionic phospholipids play an important, evolutionarily conserved role in the biogenesis and function of the photosynthetic machinery. In addition, mutant analysis suggested that in higher plants, mitochondria, unlike plastids, could import phosphatidylglycerol from the endoplasmic reticulum.