Abstract
We have identified 38 albino or pale-green (apg ) A. thaliana mutants in a collection of 11000 Ac/Ds transposon-insertion mutant lines. One of these apg mutants, apg13 shows an albino phenotype and has a Ds insertion in the MurE gene. We found that the expression of genes that depend on a multi-subunit plastid-encoded RNA polymerase was decreased, suggesting that A. thaliana MurE is functionally divergent from the bacterial MurE. In this study, we discovered that corresponding gene to apg17 is an Arabidopsis homolog of bacterial gene for PG sacculus maintenance. Accumulation of the apg17 mRNA in the wild-type plants was detected in leaf, stem, imflorescence and flower, but not in root. GFP-fusion protein analysis suggested that Apg17 localizes in chloroplasts. apg17 mutant showed variegated or pale-green leaf phenotype, and chlorophyll content was decreased to 70% to that in wild type leaf. Promoter analysis and morphological studies are now in progress.
