Abstract
In mammalian cells, apoptosis is often mediated via organelles. While apoptotic-like cell death occurs in plants, the mechanistic details are unresolved. Transgenic tobacco plants have been generated that harbour selected animal anti-apoptotic genes. Subcellular fractionation followed by western blot analysis indicated that chloroplasts serve as a location for these animal anti-apoptotic proteins in addition to the established mitochondrial location. To explore the functional significance of this observation, tobacco plants were treated with three chloroplast-directed herbicides. Wild-type plants died and exhibited features associated with apoptosis. Transgenic plants survived and did not show any apoptotic-like characteristics. Moreover, the herbicide-induced apoptotic-like cell death was light requiring. It was concluded that chloroplasts may be involved in mediating certain types of plant programmed cell death.
Publication types
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Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
MeSH terms
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Animals
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Apoptosis / drug effects
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Apoptosis / genetics
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Apoptosis / physiology*
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Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins
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Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / genetics
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Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / metabolism
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Chickens
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Chloroplasts / drug effects
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Chloroplasts / genetics
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Chloroplasts / metabolism*
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Gene Expression Regulation, Plant
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Genes, bcl-2 / genetics
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Genes, bcl-2 / physiology*
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Herbicides / pharmacology*
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Humans
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Multigene Family / physiology*
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Nicotiana / drug effects
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Nicotiana / genetics*
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Nicotiana / ultrastructure
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Plants, Genetically Modified
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Proto-Oncogene Proteins / genetics
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Proto-Oncogene Proteins / metabolism
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Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / genetics
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Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / metabolism
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bcl-X Protein
Substances
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Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins
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BCL2L1 protein, human
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Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins
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Ced-9 protein, C elegans
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Herbicides
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Proto-Oncogene Proteins
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Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2
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bcl-X Protein