Colas des Francs-Small Catherine, Small Ian
Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
Biochimie. 2014 May;100:234-42. doi: 10.1016/j.biochi.2013.08.019. Epub 2013 Aug 29.
Although chloroplast transformation is possible in some plant species, it is extremely difficult to create or select mutations in plant mitochondrial genomes, explaining why few genetic studies of mitochondrially encoded functions exist. In recent years it has become clear that many nuclear genes encode factors with key functions in organelle gene expression, and that often their action is restricted to a single organelle gene or transcript. Mutations in one of these nuclear genes thus leads to a specific primary defect in expression of a single organelle gene, and the nuclear mutation can be used as a surrogate for a phenotypically equivalent mutation in the organelle genome. These surrogate mutations often result in defective assembly of respiratory complexes, and lead to severe phenotypes including reduced growth and fertility, or even embryo-lethality. A wide collection of such mutants is now available, and this review summarises the progress in basic knowledge of mitochondrial biogenesis they have contributed to and points out areas where this resource has not been exploited yet.
虽然叶绿体转化在某些植物物种中是可行的，但在植物线粒体基因组中创建或选择突变极其困难，这就解释了为什么关于线粒体编码功能的遗传学研究很少。近年来，已经清楚的是，许多核基因编码在细胞器基因表达中具有关键功能的因子，而且它们的作用通常仅限于单个细胞器基因或转录本。因此，这些核基因之一的突变会导致单个细胞器基因表达出现特定的初级缺陷，并且该核突变可以用作细胞器基因组中表型等效突变的替代物。这些替代突变通常会导致呼吸复合体组装缺陷，并导致包括生长和育性降低甚至胚胎致死在内的严重表型。现在有大量此类突变体，本综述总结了它们对线粒体生物发生基础知识的贡献，并指出了这一资源尚未得到利用的领域。
