An Arabidopsis homolog of the bacterial cell division inhibitor SulA is involved in plastid division

Plant Cell. 2004 Jul;16(7):1801-11. doi: 10.1105/tpc.022335. Epub 2004 Jun 18.

Abstract

Plastids have evolved from an endosymbiosis between a cyanobacterial symbiont and a eukaryotic host cell. Their division is mediated both by proteins of the host cell and conserved bacterial division proteins. Here, we identified a new component of the plastid division machinery, Arabidopsis thaliana SulA. Disruption of its cyanobacterial homolog (SSulA) in Synechocystis and overexpression of an AtSulA-green fluorescent protein fusion in Arabidopsis demonstrate that these genes are involved in cell and plastid division, respectively. Overexpression of AtSulA inhibits plastid division in planta but rescues plastid division defects caused by overexpression of AtFtsZ1-1 and AtFtsZ2-1, demonstrating that its role in plastid division may involve an interaction with AtFtsZ1-1 and AtFtsZ2-1.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Arabidopsis / genetics*
  • Arabidopsis / metabolism
  • Arabidopsis Proteins / genetics
  • Arabidopsis Proteins / physiology*
  • Bacteria / cytology*
  • Cell Division
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Plant
  • Microscopy, Confocal
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Phenotype
  • Plastids / genetics*
  • Plastids / metabolism
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / genetics
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / metabolism
  • Transgenes

Substances

  • Arabidopsis Proteins
  • AtFtsZ2 protein, Arabidopsis
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins
  • SulA protein, Arabidopsis

Associated data

  • GENBANK/AJ516948
  • RefSeq/NP_440827