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Differential expression of plastome-encoded ndh genes in mesophyll and bundle-sheath chloroplasts of the C4 plant Sorghum bicolor indicates that the complex I-homologous NAD(P)H-plastoquinone oxidoreductase is involved in cyclic electron transport

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Abstract

Cyanobacteria and plastids harbor a putative NAD(P)H- or ferredoxin-plastoquinone oxidoreductase that is homologous to the NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase (complex I) of mitochondria and eubacteria. The enzyme is a multimeric protein complex that consists of at least 11 subunits (NDH-A-K) and is localized in the stroma lamellae of the thylakoid membrane system. We investigated the expression of the different subunits of the enzyme in mesophyll and bundle-sheath chloroplasts of Sorghum bicolor [L.] Moench, a C4 plant of the NADP-malic enzyme type. The relative amounts of the subunits NDH-H, -J and -K were strongly increased in bundle-sheath plastids as compared to mesophyll plastids. This increase was accompanied by enhanced transcript levels for all subunits except NDH-I. Because the main function of the protein complexes in the thylakoid membranes of bundle-sheath chloroplasts (photosystem I, cytochrome b 6/f-complex and ATPase) is the generation of ATP for CO2 fixation via cyclic electron transport, we conclude that the NAD(P)H/ferredoxin-plastoquinone oxidoreductase is an essential component of the cyclic electron-transport pathway in chloroplasts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Entwicklungs- und Molekularbiologie der Pflanzen, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Universitätsstrasse 1, D-40225, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Andreas Kubicki, Edgar Funk, Peter Westhoff & Klaus Steinmüller

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  1. Andreas Kubicki
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  2. Edgar Funk
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  3. Peter Westhoff
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  4. Klaus Steinmüller
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Additional information

We thank Prof. Dr. M. Sugiura (Center for Gene Research, Nagoya University, Chikusa, Nagoya, Japan) for the rice plastid DNA clone bank, Pioneer Hi-Bred Inc. for Sorghum seeds and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft for financial support (SFB189).

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Kubicki, A., Funk, E., Westhoff, P. et al. Differential expression of plastome-encoded ndh genes in mesophyll and bundle-sheath chloroplasts of the C4 plant Sorghum bicolor indicates that the complex I-homologous NAD(P)H-plastoquinone oxidoreductase is involved in cyclic electron transport. Planta 199, 276–281 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00196569

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00196569

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