Abstract
A mutation in CRL of Arabidopsis thaliana causes a severe defect in plastid division. Besides the inhibition of plastid division, the mutation causes distortion of cell division planes and abnormality in cell differentiation (Plant J., 38, 448-459, 2004). We investigated the presence of plastids in the cells of the crl leaves using the plants expressing a plastid-targeted YFP. Our results indicated that mesophyll of crl contained cells having both chloroplasts and plastids without chlorophyll. Stomata of crl contained cells lacking chloroplast. Some of these cells contained plastids but the others had no detectable plastid. We also detected epidermal cells containing no detectable plastid in crl. We have been suggested that chloroplasts in mesophyll cells of crl have defects in some functions required for the leaf development. The presence of epidermal cells without detectable plastids also could be a cause of abnormal leaf morphology of crl.
