title: The unusual rps3-like orf712 is functionally essential and structurally conserved in Chlamydomonas.
abstract: The Chlamydomonas reinhardtii chloroplast orf712 is a previously described open reading frame that lacks a detectable transcript but potentially encodes a polypeptide with sequence similarities to ribosomal protein Rps3 only at its N- and C-termini. Here we report that orf712 is an essential gene, as demonstrated through gene disruption by particle gun-mediated chloroplast transformation. We also show that an orf712 is present and structurally conserved in all of the two or three major Chlamydomonas lineages. Our results suggest that orf712 is an unusual rps3 gene that contains a large translated intervening sequence.
authors.affiliation: Biochemistry Department, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
authors.forename: X Q
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D016825:Chlamydomonas reinhardtii / Q000235:genetics*; D002736:Chloroplasts / Q000378:metabolism; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D004274:DNA, Recombinant; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D012269:Ribosomal Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013045:Species Specificity; D014170:Transformation, Genetic
chemical_list: D004274:DNA, Recombinant; D012269:Ribosomal Proteins; C040469:ribosomal protein S30