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Updated: Jan 23, 2026

Preparation of Chloroplast Sub-compartments from Arabidopsis for the Analysis of Protein Localization by Immunoblotting or Proteomics
Published on: October 19, 2018
A chloroplast-targeted pentatricopeptide repeat protein PPR287 is crucial for chloroplast function and Arabidopsis
Kwanuk Lee1, Su Jung Park1, Ji Hoon Han1
1Department of Applied Biology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Chonnam National University, 77 Yongbong-ro, Buk-gu, Gwangju, 61186, South Korea.
Background:
Even though the roles of pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) proteins are essential in plant organelles, the function of many chloroplast-targeted PPR proteins remains unknown. Here, we characterized the function of a chloroplast-localized PPR protein (At3g59040), which is classified as the 287th PPR protein among the 450 PPR proteins in Arabidopsis ( http://ppr.plantenergy.uwa.edu.au ).
Results:
The homozygous ppr287 mutant with the T-DNA inserted into the last exon displayed pale-green and yellowish phenotypes. The microRNA-mediated knockdown mutants were generated to further confirm the developmental defect phenotypes of ppr287 mutants. All mutants had yellowish leaves, shorter roots and height, and less seed yield, indicating that PPR287 is crucial for normal Arabidopsis growth and development. The photosynthetic activity and chlorophyll content of ppr287 mutants were markedly reduced, and the chloroplast structures of the mutants were abnormal. The levels of chloroplast rRNAs were decreased in ppr287 mutants.
Conclusions:
These results suggest that PPR287 plays an essential role in chloroplast biogenesis and function, which is crucial for the normal growth and development of Arabidopsis.
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