bims-plasge 2021-03-07 papers

Issue of 2021–03–07
three papers selected by
Vera S. Bogdanova, ИЦиГ СО РАН

Cells. 2021 Feb 22. pii: 468. [Epub ahead of print]10(2):

The Pentatricopeptide Repeat Protein MEF100 Is Required for the Editing of Four Mitochondrial Editing Sites in Arabidopsis.

Bernard Gutmann, Michael Millman, Lilian Vincis Pereira Sanglard, Ian Small, Catherine Colas des Francs-Small.

In Arabidopsis thaliana there are more than 600 C-to-U RNA editing events in the mitochondria and at least 44 in the chloroplasts. Pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) proteins provide the specificity for these reactions. They recognize RNA sequences in a partially predictable fashion via key amino acids at the fifth and last position in each PPR motif that bind to individual ribonucleotides. A combined approach of RNA-Seq, mutant complementation, electrophoresis of mitochondrial protein complexes and Western blotting allowed us to show that MEF100, a PPR protein identified in a genetic screen for mutants resistant to an inhibitor of γ -glutamylcysteine synthetase, is required for the editing of nad1-493, nad4-403, nad7-698 and ccmFN2-356 sites in Arabidopsis mitochondria. The absence of editing in mef100 leads to a decrease in mitochondrial Complex I activity, which probably explains the physiological phenotype. Some plants have lost the requirement for MEF100 at one or more of these sites through mutations in the mitochondrial genome. We show that loss of the requirement for MEF100 editing leads to divergence in the MEF100 binding site.

Keywords: editing; pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) proteins; plant mitochondria

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/cells10020468

Vavilovskii Zhurnal Genet Selektsii. 2020 Feb;24(1): 60-68

Wild pea (Pisum sativum L. subsp. elatius (Bieb.) Aschers. et Graebn. s.l.) at the periphery of its range: Zagros Mountains.

O E Kosterin, V S Bogdanova, A V Mglinets.

Characteristics of wild peas and their habitats at the periphery of the range are interesting with respect to their potential importance for pre-breeding programs aimed at selection for different environmental conditions. However, wild pea diversity in peripheral regions is insufficiently represented in the existing germplasm collections. In such regions, wild pea populations are rare, small in size and suffer from climatic change and land exploitation, hence their focused search is strongly desirable. A two-week-long expedition to Iran in May 2017 revealed two small populations of the wild pea (Pisum sativum subsp. elatius) in the Zagros Mts, in Aligudarz and Khorramabad Districts of Lorestan Province, Iran, at elevations of 1841 and 1971 m a.s.l., respectively. Their habitats are briefly described. Two pea accessions derived from them, CE9 and CE10, were characterised for some visible and molecular characters. These peas appeared to belong to the evolutionary lineage B, recognised by us earlier in P. sativum as opposed to the so-called lineage AC. They contain a unique non-conservative substitution in subtype 5 of histone H1 and turned to be most related to some wild pea accessions originating from southern and south-eastern Turkey and Golan Heights. Scarce information available on wild pea occurrence in Iran suggests their existence in the south-western principal slope of Zagros Mts and southern principal slopes of Elborz and Kopet Dagh Mts. It was found that wild peas representing the evolutionary lineage B produce poorly open and poorly coloured flowers (as reported by us earlier) only in the greenhouse conditions but normally pigmented and open flowers in the wild and mesh houses at open air in Israel. Some issues of pea taxonomy are discussed.

Keywords: Fertile Crescent; Iran; Lathyrus oleraceus L. subsp. biflorus (Rafin.) Coulot et Rabaute; Pisum sativum L. subsp. biflorum (Rafin.) Soldano; Pisum sativum L. subsp. elatius (Bieb.) Aschers. et Graebn.; Zagros Mountains; crop wild relatives; pea

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18699/VJ20.596

Vavilovskii Zhurnal Genet Selektsii. 2020 Feb;24(1): 12-19

The study of organelle DNA variability in alloplasmic barley lines in the NGS era.

M G Siniauskaya, A M Makarevich, I M Goloenko, V S Pankratov, A D Liaudanski, N G Danilenko, N V Lukhanina, A M Shimkevich, O G Davydenko.

Alloplasmic lines are a suitable model for studying molecular coevolution and interrelations between genetic systems of plant cells. Whole chloroplast (cp) and mitochondrial (mt) genome sequences were obtained by the MiSeq System (Illumina). Organelle DNA samples were prepared from a set of 12 alloplasmic barley lines with different cytoplasms of Hordeum vulgare ssp. spontaneum and H. vulgare ssp. vulgare, as well as from their paternal varieties. A bioinformatic approach for analysis of NGS data obtained on an organellar DNA mix has been developed and verified. A comparative study of Hordeum organelle genomes' variability and disposition of polymorphic loci was conducted. Eight types of chloroplast DNA and 5 types of mitochondrial DNA were distinguished for the barley sample set examined. These results were compared with the previous data of a restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) study of organelle DNAs for the same material. Formerly established data about a field evaluation of alloplasmic barley lines were revised in the light of information about organelle genomes gained after NGS. Totally 17 polymorphic loci were found at exons of chloroplast genomes. Seven of the SNPs were located in the genes of the Ndh complex. The nonsynonymous changes of nucleotides were detected in the matK, rpoC1, ndhK, ndhG and infA genes. Some of the SNPs detected are very similar in codon position and in the type of amino acid substitution to the places where RNA editing can occur. Thus, these results outline new perspectives for the future study of nuclear-cytoplasmic interactions in alloplasmic lines.

Keywords: alloplasmic lines; barley; chloroplast DNA; mitochondrial DNA; next generation sequencing (NGS)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18699/VJ19.589