Isolation and characterization of AtMLH1, a MutL homologue from Arabidopsis thaliana

DNA mismatch repair systems play an essential role in the maintenance of genetic information in living organisms and are also implicated in genetic recombination and genome stability. Using degenerate primers, we have cloned the first plant homologue of the E. coli MutL gene, which we have called AtMLH1 for Arabidopsis thaliana MutL-homologue 1. AtMLH1 is present as a single-copy gene in the Arabidopsis genome and is located on the top arm of chromosome 4. Sequence analysis revealed that the product of this gene shows extensive sequence homology with other eukaryotic MLH1 proteins. As mlh1-deficient lines would be useful for studying the biological function of this gene, several populations that had been mutagenized using T-DNA and transposon insertions were screened to identify such mutants. One line that carries a T-DNA insertion in the promoter region of the AtMLH1 gene was isolated. Surprisingly, although the insertion occurred only approximately 80 bp upstream of the putative transcription start site, Northern analyses revealed very low but similar amounts of AtMLH1 transcript in both the wild type and the T-DNA insertion lines. RT-PCR analyses suggest, however, that transcription is initiated further upstream in the insertion line and that the T-DNA may supply this novel initiation site. Finally, no increase in microsatellite instability - a phenotype often associated with mutations in mismatch repair genes - was observed in plants homozygous for this insertion.