GSE134415
The Arabidopsis Protein CONSERVED ONLY IN THE GREEN LINEAGE20 is Required for Plastid 50S Ribosome Biogenesis
Biogenesis of plastid ribosomes is facilitated by auxiliary factors which process and modify ribosomal RNAs (rRNA) or are involved in ribosome assembly. In comparison to their bacterial and mitochondrial counterparts, the biogenesis of plastid ribosomes is less well understood and few auxiliary factors have been described so far. In this study, we report the functional characterization of CGL20 (CONSERVED ONLY IN THE GREEN LINEAGE20) in Arabidopsis thaliana (AtCGL20) a small, proline-rich protein which is targeted to mitochondria and chloroplasts. In Arabidopsis, CGL20 is encoded by segmentally duplicated genes of high similarity (AtCGL20A and AtCGL20B), and inactivation of both in the atcgl20ab mutant leads to a visible virescent phenotype, and growth arrest at low temperature. The chloroplast proteome, thylakoid complex abundance and pigment composition are significantly affected in atcgl20ab mutants, resulting in a combined proton gradient regulation (pgr) and chlororespiratory reduction (crr) phenotype. Loss of AtCGL20 alters plastid rRNA ratios, perturbs the formation of a hidden break in 23S rRNA and causes abnormal accumulation of 50S ribosomal subunits in the high-molecular-mass fraction of chloroplast stromal extracts. Moreover, AtCGL20A-eGFP fusion proteins comigrate with 50S ribosomal subunits in sucrose density gradients, even after RNase treatment of stromal extracts. Therefore, we propose that AtCGL20 participates in late stages of the biogenesis of 50S ribosomal subunits in plastids – a role which presumably evolved in the green lineage as a consequence of structural divergence of plastid ribosomes. Overall design: Examination of differential gene expression in the Arabidopsis atcgl20ab mutant compared to the wild type Col-0