Abnormal physiological and molecular mutant phenotypes link chloroplast polynucleotide phosphorylase to the phosphorus deprivation response in Arabidopsis

Chloe Marchive, Shlomit Yehudai-Resheff, Arnaud Germain, Zhangjun Fei, Xingshan Jiang, Joshua Judkins, Hong Wu, Alisdair R. Fernie, Aaron Fait, David B. Stern

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

43 Scopus citations

Abstract

A prominent enzyme in organellar RNA metabolism is the exoribonuclease polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase), whose reversible activity is governed by the nucleotide diphosphate-inorganic phosphate ratio. In Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, PNPase regulates chloroplast transcript accumulation in response to phosphorus (P) starvation, and PNPase expression is repressed by the response regulator PSR1 (for PHOSPHORUS STARVATION RESPONSE1) under these conditions. Here, we investigated the role of PNPase in the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) P deprivation response by comparing wild-type and pnp mutant plants with respect to their morphology, metabolite profiles, and transcriptomes. We found that P-deprived pnp mutants develop aborted clusters of lateral roots, which are characterized by decreased auxin responsiveness and cell division, and exhibit cell death at the root tips. Electron microscopy revealed that the collapse of root organelles is enhanced in the pnp mutant under P deprivation and occurred with low frequency under P-replete conditions. Global analyses of metabolites and transcripts were carried out to understand the molecular bases of these altered P deprivation responses. We found that the pnp mutant expresses some elements of the deprivation response even when grown on a full nutrient medium, including altered transcript accumulation, although its total and inorganic P contents are not reduced. The pnp mutation also confers P status-independent responses, including but not limited to stress responses. Taken together, our data support the hypothesis that the activity of the chloroplast PNPase is involved in plant acclimation to P availability and that it may help maintain an appropriate balance of P metabolites even under normal growth conditions.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)905-924
Number of pages20
JournalPlant Physiology
Volume151
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2009

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physiology
  • Genetics
  • Plant Science

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