Light effects on several chloroplast components in norflurazon-treated pea seedlings

Changes occurring in several chloroplast components during Norflurazon-induced photobleaching of Pisum sativum seedlings were investigated. mRNA steady state levels of the chlorophyll a/b-binding protein of photosystem II, ferredoxin I, the small and large subunits of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase, and pEA214 and pEA207, two other light-responsive genes, were determined during chlorophyll photooxidation. Relative transcription rates were assayed in isolated nuclei. The results illustrate a complex set of interactions regulating expression of the nuclear and chloroplast genomes. Photobleaching was found to affect the expression of the various genes in different ways. While transcript levels of the chlorophyll a/b-binding protein decreased by more than 80% under photooxidative light conditions in carotenoid-deficient peas, levels of ferredoxin, the small and large subunits of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase, and pEA214 mRNAs were reduced by less than 50%. pEA207 mRNA levels, on the other hand, were resistant to the effects of photobleaching. Analyses of chlorophylls a and b and the chlorophyll a/b-binding protein suggest that accumulation of the protein and its mRNA are coordinated with chlorophyll abundance at several steps. In addition to post-transcriptional regulation at the level of mRNA and protein stability, there may exist coordination at the transcriptional stage.