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Mutation of chloroplast CHLM contributes to down-regulation of multiple stress response genes in Arabidopsis

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Abstract

Mg-protoporphyrin IX methyltransferase (CHLM) plays a crucial role in chlorophyll biosynthesis and converts Mg-protoporphyrin IX to Mg-protoporphyrin IX monomethyl ester. Previous research has indicated that down-expression of CHLM causes a pale green phenotype and Mg-protoporphyrin IX accumulation in Arabidopsis thaliana plants. Here, we report that a novel missense mutation (G to A transition) in the CHLM gene, results in the Gly59 → Glu amino acid substitution in the corresponding protein of Arabidopsis chlm-4 mutant plants. In silico modelling studies suggested that this substitution may disrupt membrane association of CHLM. Functional studies showed that the mutant form of CHLM leads to the excessive accumulation of superoxide anion radicals (O2−), although elimination of O2− could alleviate the yellow phenotype observed in chlm-4. In addition, qRT-PCR and western blotting analysis demonstrated that the expression of O2− scavengers, FSD1 and CSD2, were repressed in chlm-4 plants. The accumulation of photosystem II proteins was also decreased due to the CHLM mutation. Furthermore, we found that chlm-4 plants exhibited hypersensitive salt-stress during seed germination and down-expression of the salt stress-responsive CBFs-family genes. These results suggest CHLM positively regulates the expression of multiple photosynthetic-related and stress-responsive nuclear genes.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31900387), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2019M652767) and the Youth Fund of Hunan Agricultural University (18QN15).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Phytohormones and Growth Development, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, 410128, China

    Chao Huang & Lang-Tao Xiao

  2. Department of Basic Medicine, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, China

    Molly P. David

  3. Department of Resources and Environment, Henan University of Engineering, Zhengzhou, 451191, China

    Zhi-Lin Cao

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  1. Chao Huang
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  4. Lang-Tao Xiao
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CH and LTX drafted the manuscript; MPD provided the bioinformatics analysis; CH, ZLC participated in the experimental design. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Lang-Tao Xiao.

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Huang, C., David, M.P., Cao, ZL. et al. Mutation of chloroplast CHLM contributes to down-regulation of multiple stress response genes in Arabidopsis. Plant Growth Regul 91, 209–219 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-020-00600-9

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