Degradation of Abnormal Proteins in Chloroplasts of Higher Plants
Budget
Duration
$300,000
3
years
Adam, Z.
Hebrew U
Pichersky, E.
U Michigan
Final Report Abstract In this study we attempted to get a better understanding of processes involved in the degradation of abnormal proteins i chloroplasts. To achieve this goal, we used a number of complementary approaches. We first characterized the expression of the two subunits of Clp protease. We demonstrated that both of them were expressed in chloroplasts in a constitutive fashion, but the expression of the regulatory subunit ClpC was enhanced by light. We generated a mutant the lumenal protein OEE33 which was targeted to the stroma in in vitro experiments. In the wrong compartment it was found unstable, and characterization of its degradation revealed that it was degraded by a soluble, ATP-dependent serine protease, which are also the characteristics of Clp protease. In search of other homologues of bacterial proteases, we found that chloroplasts contain a homologue of the FtsH protease. It is an ATP-dependent metallo-protease, bound to the stromal side of the thylakoid membrane, whose expression is dependent on light. The gene encodig this protease was cloned and characterized. In attempt to generate Arabidopsis mutant plants impaired in their capability to degrade abnormal chloroplast proteins, we fused the gene for mistargeted OEE33 to the streptomycin-detoxifying gene. This chimeric gene was introduced into Arabodipsis plants, to generate transformed plants. This transformants plants were sensitive to streptomycin due to the rapid turn-over of the chimeric protein. Seeds from these plants were then chemically mutagenised, and seedlings were selected for their capability to grow on streptomycin. The ability of these mutant transformants to grow on streptomycin is presumably due to stabilization of the chimeric protein. These plants will allow us in the future to identify the effected genes, which are likely to be involved in the protein degradation process.