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tla1, a DNA insertional transformant of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii with a truncated light-harvesting chlorophyll antenna size

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Abstract

DNA insertional mutagenesis and screening of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was employed to isolate tla1, a stable transformant having a truncated light-harvesting chlorophyll antenna size. Molecular analysis showed a single plasmid insertion into an open reading frame of the nuclear genome corresponding to a novel gene (Tla1) that encodes a protein of 213 amino acids. Genetic analysis showed co-segregation of plasmid and tla1 phenotype. Biochemical analyses showed the tla1 mutant to be chlorophyll deficient, with a functional chlorophyll antenna size of photosystem I and photosystem II being about 50% and 65% of that of the wild type, respectively. It contained a correspondingly lower amount of light-harvesting proteins than the wild type and had lower steady-state levels of Lhcb mRNA. The tla1 strain required a higher light intensity for the saturation of photosynthesis and showed greater solar conversion efficiencies and a higher photosynthetic productivity than the wild type under mass culture conditions. Results are discussed in terms of the tla1 mutation, its phenotype, and the role played by the Tla1 gene in the regulation of the photosynthetic chlorophyll antenna size in C. reinhardtii.

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Abbreviations

Chl:

chlorophyll

CP26 and CP29:

chlorophyll proteins 26 and 29

PS I and PS II:

photosystems I and II

LHC I and LHC II:

light harvesting complex of PS I and PS II, respectively

PMSF:

phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride

tla :

truncated light-harvesting chlorophyll antenna

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Acknowledgements

J.E.W. Polle and S-D. Kanakagiri contributed equally to this research. The work was produced under DOE–UCB Cooperative Agreement DE-FC36-00GO10536. We thank Ms. Yar-Fen Teng for skillful technical assistance and Dr. Kris Niyogi for making available the fluorescence video imaging system used in this work.

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  1. Juergen E. W. Polle

    Present address: Department of Biology, Brooklyn College, 2900 Bedford Ave. 200NE, Brooklyn, NY 11210, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, 111 Koshland Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3102, USA

    Juergen E. W. Polle, Sarada-Devi Kanakagiri & Anastasios Melis

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  1. Juergen E. W. Polle
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  2. Sarada-Devi Kanakagiri
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Correspondence to Anastasios Melis.

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Polle, J.E.W., Kanakagiri, SD. & Melis, A. tla1, a DNA insertional transformant of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii with a truncated light-harvesting chlorophyll antenna size. Planta 217, 49–59 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-002-0968-1

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