This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplemental material
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Loiselay, C.
Right arrow Articles by Choquet, Y.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Loiselay, C.
Right arrow Articles by Choquet, Y.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Molecular and Cellular Biology, September 2008, p. 5529-5542, Vol. 28, No. 17
0270-7306/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/MCB.02056-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Molecular Identification and Function of cis- and trans-Acting Determinants for petA Transcript Stability in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Chloroplasts{triangledown} ,{dagger}

Christelle Loiselay,1 Nicola J. Gumpel,2 Jacqueline Girard-Bascou,1 Adam T. Watson,2,3 Saul Purton,2 Francis-André Wollman,1 and Yves Choquet1*

UMR 7141 CNRS/UPMC, Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique, 13 Rue Pierre et Marie Curie, F-75005 Paris, France,1 Department of Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom,2 Sussex Centre for Genome Damage and Stability, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9RH, United Kingdom3

Received 15 November 2007/ Returned for modification 25 February 2008/ Accepted 13 June 2008

In organelles, the posttranscriptional steps of gene expression are tightly controlled by nucleus-encoded factors, most often acting in a gene-specific manner. Despite the molecular identification of a growing number of factors, their mode of action remains largely unknown. In the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, expression of the chloroplast petA gene, which codes for cytochrome f, depends on two specific nucleus-encoded factors. MCA1 controls the accumulation of the transcript, while TCA1 is required for its translation. We report here the cloning of MCA1, the first pentatricopeptide repeat protein functionally identified in this organism. By chloroplast transformation with modified petA genes, we investigated the function of MCA1 in vivo. We demonstrate that MCA1 acts on the very first 21 nucleotides of the petA 5' untranslated region to protect the whole transcript from 5'->3' degradation but does not process the 5' end of the petA mRNA. MCA1 and TCA1 recognize adjacent targets and probably interact together for efficient expression of petA mRNA. MCA1, although not strictly required for translation, shows features of a translational enhancer, presumably by assisting the binding of TCA1 to its own target. Conversely, TCA1 participates to the full stabilization of the transcript through its interaction with MCA1.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: UMR 7141 CNRS/UPMC, Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique, 13 Rue Pierre et Marie Curie, F-75005 Paris, France. Phone: 33 1 58415075. Fax: 33 1 58415022. E-mail: choquet{at}ibpc.fr

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 23 June 2008.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://mcb.asm.org/.

Molecular and Cellular Biology, September 2008, p. 5529-5542, Vol. 28, No. 17
0270-7306/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/MCB.02056-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Cai, W., Ji, D., Peng, L., Guo, J., Ma, J., Zou, M., Lu, C., Zhang, L. (2009). LPA66 Is Required for Editing psbF Chloroplast Transcripts in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiol. 150: 1260-1271 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»