Open AccessCarotenoid‐deficient maize seedlings fail to accumulate light‐harvesting chlorophyll a/b binding protein (LHCP) mRNA
Author(s) -
MAYFIELD Stephen P.,
TAYLOR William C.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
european journal of biochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1432-1033
pISSN - 0014-2956
DOI - 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1984.tb08433.x
Subject(s) - carotenoid , plastid , chloroplast , chlorophyll , biology , nuclear gene , chlorophyll a , chlorophyll b , botany , messenger rna , photosynthesis , gene , biochemistry , genome
Yellow leaves of chlorophyll‐deficient seedlings and white leaves of Carotenoid deficient seedlings contain no detectable light‐harvesting chlorophyll a/b binding proteins (LHCP). Chlorophyll‐deficient leaves contain plastids which are arrested in development prior to chloroplast formation [Mascia, P. N. and Robertson, D. S. (1978) Planta (Berl.) 143 , 207–211] while carotenoid‐deficient leaves contain plastids which are arrested in development at a rudimentary stage [Bachmann, M. D., Robertson, D. S., Bowen, C. C., and Anderson, I. C. (1967) J. Ultrastruc. Res. 21 , 41–60]. Chlorophyll‐deficient leaves have normal levels of nuclear‐encoded LHCP mRNA while carotenoid‐deficient leaves contain only trace amounts of LHCP mRNA. Similar results were obtained with carotenoid deficiences caused by nuclear gene mutations and by treatment with the herbicide norflurazon which blocks carotenoid biosynthesis. We conclude that events at early stages of plastid development influence the accumulation of a nuclear‐encoded mRNA.