title: Arabidopsis phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthase 1 is essential for chloroplast differentiation, but is dispensable for mitochondrial function.
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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Systems Biology, Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology, Ghent University, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000 Gent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Babiychuk
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Eubel
authors.forename: Hans-Peter
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Braun
authors.forename: Margrit
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Frentzen
authors.forename: Sergei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kushnir
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000166:cytology* / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002736:Chloroplasts / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015870:Gene Expression; D007527:Isoenzymes / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009154:Mutation; D010715:Phosphatidylglycerols / Q000378:metabolism; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000378:metabolism; D017855:Transferases (Other Substituted Phosphate Groups) / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D007527:Isoenzymes; D010715:Phosphatidylglycerols; C034358:phosphatidylglycerophosphate; D017855:Transferases (Other Substituted Phosphate Groups); C020676:CDP-diacylglycerol-glycerol-3-phosphate 3-phosphatidyltransferase