Arabidopsis phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthase 1 is essential for chloroplast differentiation, but is dispensable for mitochondrial function

authored by

Elena Babiychuk, Frank Müller, Holger Eubel, Hans Peter Braun, Margrit Frentzen, Sergei Kushnir

Abstract

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.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Plant Genetics

External Organisation(s)

Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology
RWTH Aachen University

Type

Article

Journal

Plant Journal

Volume

33

Pages

899-909

No. of pages

11

ISSN

0960-7412

Publication date

28.02.2003

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Genetics, Plant Science, Cell Biology

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-313X.2003.01680.x (Access: Unknown)