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Molecular and Cellular Biology, February 2006, p. 863-870, Vol. 26, No. 3
0270-7306/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/MCB.26.3.863-870.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Real-Time Monitoring of Chloroplast Gene Expression by a Luciferase Reporter: Evidence for Nuclear Regulation of Chloroplast Circadian Period

Takuya Matsuo,1,2 Kiyoshi Onai,1,2 Kazuhisa Okamoto,1,4 Jun Minagawa,5 and Masahiro Ishiura1,2,3,4*

Center for Gene Research,1 Bio-Oriented Technology Research Advancement Institution,2 Division of Biological Science, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Furo, Chikusa, Nagoya 464-8602, Japan,3 Aichi Science and Technology Foundation, Naka, Nagoya 460-0002, Japan,4 Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, N19 W8, Sapporo 060-0819, Japan5

Received 12 September 2005/ Returned for modification 8 October 2005/ Accepted 3 November 2005

Chloroplast-encoded genes, like nucleus-encoded genes, exhibit circadian expression. How the circadian clock exerts its control over chloroplast gene expression, however, is poorly understood. To facilitate the study of chloroplast circadian gene expression, we developed a codon-optimized firefly luciferase gene for the chloroplast of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as a real-time bioluminescence reporter and introduced it into the chloroplast genome. The bioluminescence of the reporter strain correlated well with the circadian expression pattern of the introduced gene and satisfied all three criteria for circadian rhythms. Moreover, the period of the rhythm was lengthened in per mutants, which are phototactic rhythm mutants carrying a long-period gene in their nuclear genome. These results demonstrate that chloroplast gene expression rhythm is a bona fide circadian rhythm and that the nucleus-encoded circadian oscillator determines the period length of the chloroplast rhythm. Our reporter strains can serve as a powerful tool not only for analysis of the circadian regulation mechanisms of chloroplast gene expression but also for a genetic approach to the molecular oscillator of the algal circadian clock.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Center for Gene Research, Nagoya University, Furo, Chikusa, Nagoya 464-8602, Japan. Phone: (81) 52 789 4527. Fax: (81) 52 789 4526. E-mail: ishiura{at}gene.nagoya-u.ac.jp.

Molecular and Cellular Biology, February 2006, p. 863-870, Vol. 26, No. 3
0270-7306/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/MCB.26.3.863-870.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Brunner, M., Merrow, M. (2008). The green yeast uses its plant-like clock to regulate its animal-like tail. Genes Dev. 22: 825-831 [Full Text]  
  • Matsuo, T., Okamoto, K., Onai, K., Niwa, Y., Shimogawara, K., Ishiura, M. (2008). A systematic forward genetic analysis identified components of the Chlamydomonas circadian system. Genes Dev. 22: 918-930 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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