title: A chloroplast gene is required for the light-independent accumulation of chlorophyll in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.
abstract: The light-independent pathway of chlorophyll synthesis which occurs in some lower plants and algae is still largely unknown. We have characterized a chloroplast mutant, H13, of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii which is unable to synthesize chlorophyll in the dark and is also photosystem I deficient. The mutant has a 2.8 kb deletion as well as other rearrangements of its chloroplast genome. By performing particle gun mediated chloroplast transformation of H13 with defined wild-type chloroplast DNA fragments, we have identified a new chloroplast gene, chlN, coding for a 545 amino acid protein which is involved in the light-independent accumulation of chlorophyll, probably at the step of reduction of protochlorophyllide to chlorophyllide. The chlN gene is also found in the chloroplast genomes of liverwort and pine, but is absent from the chloroplast genomes of tobacco and rice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, University of Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Choquet
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rahire
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Girard-Bascou
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Erickson
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Rochaix
mesh_terms: D020418:Algal Proteins; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D016825:Chlamydomonas reinhardtii / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002736:Chloroplasts; D002872:Chromosome Deletion; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D008027:Light; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D012313:RNA / Q000378:metabolism; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D020418:Algal Proteins; D010940:Plant Proteins; D002734:Chlorophyll; D012313:RNA; D004247:DNA