Summary
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is now becoming a useful model for the study of mitochondrial genetics in photosynthetic organisms. The linear 15.8 kb mitochondrial genome of the alga has been completely sequenced and all the genes have been identified. Although Chlamydomonas probably cannot survive in the absence of the mitochondrial genome, the inactivation of certain mitochondrial genes is not lethal for the cell. The lack of a functional cob (apocytochrome b) tor cox1 (subunit 1 ofcytochrome c oxidase) gene prevents cell division in the dark but has little effect on photoautotrophic growth. A deletion encompassing the cob and nd4 (subunit 4 of NADH dehydrogenase) genes still allows the cells to grow in the light. Specific amino acid changes in the apocytochrome b sequence, conferring resistance to inhibitors (myxothiazol, mucidin) of complex III, have also been characterized.
The mitochondrial mutations, as well as the RFLP that distinguishes two interfertile strains, have permitted the demonstration that in crosses, the meiotic progeny issued from the zygotes most ofteninherit the mitochondrial DNA from the mating-type minus parent. The mitochondrial DNA of mating-type plus origin is slowly eliminated during the maturation and the meiotic divisions of the zygospore. This contrasts with the transmission pattern observed for the chloroplast genome (transmission from the mt+ parent; elimination of the mt− chloroplast DNA very soon after zygote formation).
The rare zygotes which divide mitotically and give rise to diploid progeny transmit mitochondrial genomes from both parents. In these diploids, recombination events occur between mitochondrial markers and the recombination frequency is dependent on the physical distance between the markers. As the recombination frequency is ca. 3.2% per kb, mitochondrial mutations less than 5–7 kb apart can be genetically mapped by recombinational analysis.
One case of mitochondrial transformation has also been reported in Chlamydomonas. Future experiments in that line will allow the evaluation of the consequences of DNA modifications made in vitro and the analysis of the phenotypic changes caused by the presence of novel gene sequences in the mitochondrial genome.
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Abbreviations
- bp:
-
base pair
- cob :
-
apocytochrome b
- cox :
-
cytochrome c oxidase
- dk:
-
dark
- dum :
-
dark uniparental minus
- kb:
-
kilobase pairs
- MT+:
-
mating-type plus
- MT−:
-
mating-type minus
- nd :
-
NADH dehydrogenase
- ORF:
-
open reading frame
- PCR:
-
polymerase chain reaction
- RFLP:
-
restriction fragment length polymorphism
- rtl :
-
reverse transcriptase like
- SHAM:
-
salicylhydroxamic acid
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Remacle, C., Matagne, R.F. (1998). Mitochondrial Genetics. In: Rochaix, J.D., Goldschmidt-Clermont, M., Merchant, S. (eds) The Molecular Biology of Chloroplasts and Mitochondria in Chlamydomonas. Advances in Photosynthesis and Respiration, vol 7. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-48204-5_34
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