Abstract
Peroxisomes are single membrane-bound organelles that are ubiquitously found in eukaryotic cells. In higher plants, peroxisomes have pivotal roles in fatty acid degradation, photorespiration and phytohormone synthesis. However, peroxisome biogenesis has been unclear. To reveal molecular mechanisms in peroxisome biogenesis, we have been searching and characterizing factors that regulate peroxisome biogenesis in Arabidopsis thaliana. We have already generated transgenic Arabidopsis, GFP-PTS1, in which peroxisomes are visualized with GFP. GFP-PTS1 seeds were mutagenized with EMS. Eighty-two candidates, which exhibit different pattern of GFP fluorescence, were isolated from 37,200 M2 plants as apm (aberrant peroxisome morphology) mutants. apm mutants exhibit the following phenotypes; long or enlarged peroxisomes, a defect in subcellular localization of peroxisomes and observation of GFP in the cytosol. We have already identified Dynamin related protein 3a, Peroxin12 and Peroxin13 as APM1, APM2 and APM4, respectively. In this presentation, we report characterization of another apm mutant, apm9.
