Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 24, 2025

Analysis of Protein Import into Chloroplasts Isolated from Stressed Plants
Published on: November 1, 2016
OsSLC1 Encodes a Pentatricopeptide Repeat Protein Essential for Early Chloroplast Development and Seedling Survival
Jun Lv1, Lianguang Shang2, Yun Chen3
1College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China.
Background:
The large family of pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) proteins is widely distributed among land plants. Such proteins play vital roles in intron splicing, RNA editing, RNA processing, RNA stability and RNA translation. However, only a small number of PPR genes have been identified in rice.
Results:
In this study, we raised a mutant from tissue-culture-derived plants of Oryza sativa subsp. japonica 'Zhonghua 11', which exhibited a lethal chlorosis phenotype from germination to the third-leaf stage. The mutant was designated seedling-lethal chlorosis 1 (slc1). The slc1 mutant leaves showed extremely low contents of photosynthetic pigments and abnormal chloroplast development, and were severely defective in photosynthesis. Map-based cloning of OsSLC1 revealed that a single base (G) deletion was detected in the first exon of Os06g0710800 in the slc1 mutant, which caused a premature stop codon. Knockout and complementation experiments further confirmed that OsSLC1 is responsible for the seedling-lethal chlorosis phenotype in the slc1 mutant. OsSLC1 was preferentially expressed in green leaves, and encoded a chloroplast-localized PPR protein harboring 12 PPR motifs. Loss-of-function of OsSLC1 affected the intron splicing of multiple group II introns, and especially precluded the intron splicing of rps16, and resulted in significant increase in the transcript levels of 3 chloroplast ribosomal RNAs and 16 chloroplast development-related and photosynthesis-related genes, and in significant reduction in the transcript levels of 1 chloroplast ribosomal RNAs and 2 chloroplast development-related and photosynthesis-related genes.
Conclusion:
We characterized a novel chloroplast-localized PPR protein, OsSLC1, which plays a vital role in the intron splicing of multiple group II introns, especially the rps16 intron, and is essential for early chloroplast development and seedling survival in rice.
More Related Videos
11:33Investigating Interactions Between Histone Modifying Enzymes and Transcription Factors in vivo by Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer
Published on: October 14, 2022
12:25Isolation of Physiologically Active Thylakoids and Their Use in Energy-Dependent Protein Transport Assays
Published on: September 28, 2018
Related Concept Videos
Protein Transport to the Outer Chloroplast Membrane
Two models describe the mechanism of precursor recognition and entry across the outer membrane through the TOC complex. Model 1 suggests the newly synthesized precursor binds to the TOC receptor 159 and forms a complex.
Protein Transport to the Inner Chloroplast Membrane
Protein Transport to the Stroma
Protein complexes called the translocon of the outer chloroplast membrane or TOC complex, and the translocon of the inner chloroplast membrane or TIC complex mediate the...
Cell Signaling in Plants
Protein Transport to the Thylakoids
Regulation of Nuclear Protein Sorting