Premium
DOMINO1 , a member of a small plant‐specific gene family, encodes a protein essential for nuclear and nucleolar functions
Author(s) -
Lahmy Sylvie,
Guilleminot Jocelyne,
Cheng ChingMing,
Bechtold Nicole,
Albert Sylvie,
Pelletier Georges,
Delseny Michel,
Devic Martine
Publication year - 2004
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 - 10.1111/j.1365-313x.2004.02166.x
Subject(s) - ribosome biogenesis , nucleolus , biology , mutant , arabidopsis , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , genetics , nuclear protein , fusion protein , ribosome , endosperm , cytoplasm , rna , transcription factor , recombinant dna
Summary Arabidopsis embryos carrying the domino1 mutation grow slowly in comparison with wild type embryos and as a consequence reach only the globular stage at desiccation. The primary defect of the mutation at the cellular level is the large size of the nucleolus that can be observed soon after fertilization in the nuclei of both the embryo and the endosperm. The ultrastructure of mutant nucleoli is drastically different from wild type and points to a fault in ribosome biogenesis. DOMINO1 encodes a protein, which belongs to a plant‐specific gene family sharing a common motif of unknown function, present in the tomato DEFECTIVE CHLOROPLASTS AND LEAVES (LeDCL) protein. Using a GFP protein fusion, we show that DOMINO1 is targeted to the nucleus. We propose that inactivation of DOMINO1 has a negative effect on ribosome biogenesis and on the rate of cell division.