Use of nuclear mutants in the analysis of chloroplast development

Although a wide range of mutations in the nuclear genome also affect chloroplast biogenesis, their pleiotropic nature often limits their use in studying nuclear genes that regulate or facilitate chloroplast development. However, many mutations that cause a high-chlorophyll-fluorescent (hcf) phenotype exhibit limited pleiotrophy, causing the loss of functionally related sets of chloroplast polypeptides. Several hcf mutations are described that result in the loss of one specific protein complex from the thylakoid membrane. Chloroplast and cytosolic mRNAs coding for component polypeptides of the missing complex are unaffected in the mutants, suggesting that each mutation disrupts some process in the synthesis and assembly of the missing complex. Another hcf mutation causes both the loss of three protein complexes and grossly abnormal thylakoid membrane structures. The primary effect of this mutation might be in the assembly of thylakoid membranes or in the stable accumulation of the three protein complexes. Two other hcf mutations are more pleiotropic. Hcf*-38 causes a quantitative reduction of many chloroplast proteins and a reduction of some chloroplast RNAs, including several splicing intermediates. Hcf*-7 causes a major reduction of all chloroplast-encoded proteins examined. The range of pleiotropic effects of hcf mutations indicates that the mutations identify nuclear genes whose products are involved in a number of different steps in chloroplast development. Because some of the mutations described have been generated by transposon insertions, they can be cloned using the transposon to identify the mutant allele.