Chloroplasts in seeds and dark-grown seedlings of lotus.
In most higher plants, mature dry seeds have no chloroplasts but etioplasts. Here we show that in a hydrophyte, lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), young chloroplasts already exist in shoots of mature dry seeds and that they give rise to mature chloroplasts during germination, even in darkness. These shoots contain chlorophyll and chlorophyll-binding proteins CP1 and LHCP. The unique features of chloroplast formation in N. nucifera suggest a unique adaptive strategy for seedling development correlated with the plant's habitat.
Department of Biology and Geosciences, Faculty of Science, Shizuoka University, Shizuoka 422-8529, Japan. sbtushi@ipc.shizuoka.ac.jp
Takashi
T
Ushimaru
Takahiro
T
Hasegawa
Toyoki
T
Amano
Masao
M
Katayama
Shigeyasu
S
Tanaka
Hideo
H
Tsuji
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects; D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000378:metabolism*; D002736:Chloroplasts / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects / Q000648:ultrastructure; D003624:Darkness; D018525:Germination; D008027:Light; D045342:Light-Harvesting Protein Complexes; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D031653:Nelumbo / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000528:radiation effects; D045322:Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D018520:Plant Shoots / Q000254:growth & development / Q000528:radiation effects; D012639:Seeds / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000528:radiation effects
D045342:Light-Harvesting Protein Complexes; D045322:Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex Proteins; D002734:Chlorophyll