Abstract
Cardiolipin (CL) is a phospholipid localized in the mitchondrial inner membrane of eukaryotes. CL is suggested to be involved in many mitochondrial functions. However, the gene for CL synthase (CLS) has not been cloned from multicellular eukaryotes, and the CLS mutant has also not been reported. To know physiological roles of CL in higher plants, we have identified the Arabidopsis gene encoding the CLS and isolated mutants in which the CLS gene is disrupted.
As a result of searching candidate genes in Arabidopsis genome, AtCLS was predicted as the CLS gene. We have shown that the AtCLS gene encodes a eukaryotic CL synthase, that is targeted into mitochondria. Moreover, we have analyzed knockout mutants of AtCLS and found that they show an embryo-lethal phenotype. These findings demonstrate that CL plays a critical role in mitochondria during plant develpment .
