title: Disruption of phytoene desaturase gene results in albino and dwarf phenotypes in Arabidopsis by impairing chlorophyll, carotenoid, and gibberellin biosynthesis.
abstract: Carotenoids play an important role in many physiological processes in plants and the phytoene desaturase gene (PDS3) encodes one of the important enzymes in the carotenoid biosynthesis pathway. Here we report the identification and analysis of a T-DNA insertion mutant of PDS3 gene. Functional complementation confirmed that both the albino and dwarf phenotypes of the pds3 mutant resulted from functional disruption of the PDS3 gene. Chloroplast development was arrested at the proplastid stage in the pds3 mutant. Further analysis showed that high level of phytoene was accumulated in the pds3 mutant. Addition of exogenous GA(3) could partially rescue the dwarf phenotype, suggesting that the dwarf phenotype of the pds3 mutant might be due to GA deficiency. Microarray and RT-PCR analysis showed that disrupting PDS3 gene resulted in gene expression changes involved in at least 20 metabolic pathways, including the inhibition of many genes in carotenoid, chlorophyll, and GA biosynthesis pathways. Our data suggest that the accumulated phytoene in the pds3 mutant might play an important role in certain negative feedbacks to affect gene expression of diverse cellular pathways.
authors.affiliation: Peking-Yale Joint Center for Plant Molecular Genetics and Agrobiotechnology, National Laboratory for Protein Engineering and Plant Genetic Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Genji
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.forename: Hongya
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Ligeng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Yiben
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Xing Wang
authors.initials: XW
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: Zhangliang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Li-Jia
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Qu
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D002338:Carotenoids / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D002736:Chloroplasts / Q000502:physiology*; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics; D015536:Down-Regulation; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D005875:Gibberellins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000378:metabolism; D010088:Oxidoreductases / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D005875:Gibberellins; D002734:Chlorophyll; D002338:Carotenoids; C007842:gibberellic acid; D010088:Oxidoreductases; C022398:phytoene dehydrogenase