title: The Arabidopsis-accelerated cell death gene ACD1 is involved in oxygenation of pheophorbide a: inhibition of the pheophorbide a oxygenase activity does not lead to the "stay-green" phenotype in Arabidopsis.
abstract: Oxygenation of pheophorbide a is a key step in chlorophyll breakdown. Several biochemical studies have implicated that this step was catalyzed by an iron-containing and ferredoxin-dependent monooxygenase, pheophorbide a oxygenase (PaO). It has been proposed that inhibition of its activity arrests the chlorophyll breakdown and leads to the "stay-green" phenotype. We searched the Arabidopsis genome for a possible PaO-encoding gene and hypothesized that it has homology to known iron-containing Rieske-type monooxygenase sequences. We identified three such open reading frames, Tic55, ACD1 and ACD1-like. We produced transgenic Arabidopsis plants which expressed antisense RNA as a method to inhibit the expression of these genes. The appearance of these antisense plants were indistinguishable from that of the wild type under illumination. However, after they were kept under darkness for 5 d and again illuminated, the leaves of the antisense ACD1 plants (AsACD1) were bleached. Leaves of AsACD1 accumulated 387 nmol (g FW)(-1) pheophorbide a which corresponded to 60% of chlorophyll a degraded. The rate of decrease in chlorophyll a was not influenced in senesced AsACD1 leaves. These results demonstrated that ACD1 is involved in PaO activity, and its inhibition led to photooxidative destruction of the cell instead of the "stay-green" phenotype.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, and Core Research of Science and Technology (CREST), Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST), Kita-ku, N19 W8, Sapporo, 060-0819 Japan. rtanaka@lowtem.hokudai.ac.jp
authors.forename: Ryouichi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Masumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hirashima
authors.forename: Soichirou
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Satoh
authors.forename: Ayumi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tanaka
mesh_terms: D016375:Antisense Elements (Genetics) / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism*; D002736:Chloroplasts / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D003624:Darkness; D008027:Light; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism*; D010105:Oxygenases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D010641:Phenotype; D010802:Phylogeny; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified
chemical_list: D016375:Antisense Elements (Genetics); D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D002734:Chlorophyll; C482919:ACD1 protein, Arabidopsis; D010105:Oxygenases; C112915:pheide a oxygenase; C032623:pheophorbide a; D010100:Oxygen