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One RNA polymerase serving two genomes
Author(s) -
Hedtke Boris,
Börner Thomas,
Weihe Andreas
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
embo reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.584
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1469-3178
pISSN - 1469-221X
DOI - 10.1093/embo-reports/kvd086
Subject(s) - polymerase , biology , rna polymerase , rna dependent rna polymerase , gene , rna polymerase i , microbiology and biotechnology , genome , rna polymerase iii , rna polymerase ii , rna , small nuclear rna , genetics , gene expression , promoter
The land plant Arabidopsis thaliana contains three closely related nuclear genes encoding phage‐type RNA polymerases ( RpoT;1 , RpoT;2 and RpoT;3 ). The gene products of RpoT;1 and RpoT;3 have previously been shown to be imported into mitochondria and chloroplasts, respectively. Here we show that the transit peptide of RpoT;2 possesses dual targeting properties. Transient expression assays in tobacco protoplasts as well as stable transformation of Arabidopsis plants demonstrate efficient targeting of fusion peptides consisting of the N‐terminus of RpoT;2 joined to green fluorescent protein to both organelles. Thus, RpoT;2 might be the first RNA polymerase shown to transcribe genes in two different genomes. RNA polymerase activity of recombinant RpoT;2 is uneffected by the inhibitor tagetin, qualifying the gene product of RpoT;2 as a phage‐type polymerase.