Abstract
The recessive nuclear mutationiojap (ij) in maize produces striped plants with normal chloroplasts in green sectors and poorly developed chloroplasts in the white sectors. Theij mutation is also characterized by an array of additional phenotypic affects which suggests a pivotal role forIj in chloroplast development. TheIj gene from maize has been isolated; however, the sequence has not provided information on the action of theIj gene product. As an extension of the analysis of theIj gene we have generated a number of independent transposon insertion mutations using the Robertson'sMutator (Mu). Insertions were found to be distributed throughout the 5′ half of the gene and all showed a similar striping pattern to that of the originalij mutation,ij-ref. While several of the new mutant alleles producedij-homologous transcripts none produced detectable levels of the Ij polypeptide product. Chloroplast development in some cells appears to be able to proceed in the absence of the Ij polypeptide.
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Communicated by R. G. Herrmann
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Byrne, M., Taylor, W.C. Analysis ofMutator-induced mutations in theIojap gene of maize. Molec. Gen. Genet. 252, 216–220 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02173223
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02173223