A unique C-terminal domain contributes to the molecular function of Restorer-of-fertility proteins in plant mitochondria.

Restorer-of-fertility (Rf) genes encode pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) proteins that are targeted to mitochondria where they specifically bind to transcripts that induce cytoplasmic male sterility and repress their expression. In searching for a molecular signature unique to this class of proteins, we found that a majority of known Rf proteins have a distinct domain, which we called RfCTD (Restorer-of-fertility C-terminal domain), and its presence correlates with the ability to induce cleavage of the mitochondrial RNA target. A screen of 219 angiosperm genomes from 123 genera using a sequence profile that can quickly and accurately identify RfCTD sequences revealed considerable variation in RFL/RfCTD gene numbers across flowering plants. We observed that plant genera with bisexual flowers have significantly higher numbers of RFL genes compared to those with unisexual flowers, consistent with a role of these proteins in restoration of male fertility. We show that removing the RfCTD from the RFL protein RNA PROCESSING FACTOR 2-nad6 prevented cleavage of its RNA target, the nad6 transcript, in Arabidopsis thaliana mitochondria. We provide a simple way of identifying putative Rf candidates in genome sequences, new insights into the molecular mode of action of Rf proteins and the evolution of fertility restoration in flowering plants.

Plant organellar RNA maturation.

Plant organellar RNA metabolism is run by a multitude of nucleus-encoded RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) that control RNA stability, processing, and degradation. In chloroplasts and mitochondria, these post-transcriptional processes are vital for the production of a small number of essential components of the photosynthetic and respiratory machinery-and consequently for organellar biogenesis and plant survival. Many organellar RBPs have been functionally assigned to individual steps in RNA maturation, often specific to selected transcripts. While the catalog of factors identified is ever-growing, our knowledge of how they achieve their functions mechanistically is far from complete. This review summarizes the current knowledge of plant organellar RNA metabolism taking an RBP-centric approach and focusing on mechanistic aspects of RBP functions and the kinetics of the processes they are involved in.

Volatile biomarkers for non-invasive detection of American foulbrood, a threat to honey bee pollination services.

Honey bees provide essential environmental services, pollinating both agricultural and natural ecosystems that are crucial for human health. However, these pollination services are under threat by outbreaks of the bacterial honey bee disease American foulbrood (AFB). Caused by the bacterium, Paenibacillus larvae, AFB kills honey bee larvae, converting the biomass to a foul smelling, spore-laden mass. Due to the bacterium's tough endospores, which are easily spread and extremely persistent, AFB management requires the destruction of infected colonies in many countries. AFB detection remains a significant problem for beekeepers: diagnosis is often slow, relying on beekeepers visually identifying symptoms in the colony and molecular confirmation. Delayed detection can result in large outbreaks during high-density beekeeping pollination events, jeopardising livelihoods and food security. In an effort to improve diagnostics, we investigated volatile compounds associated with AFB-diseased brood in vitro and in beehive air. Using Solid Phase Microextraction and Gas Chromatography Mass-Spectrometry, we identified 40 compounds as volatile biomarkers for AFB infections, including 16 compounds previously unreported in honey bee studies. In the field, we detected half of the biomarkers in situ (in beehive air) and demonstrated their sensitivity and accuracy for diagnosing AFB. The most sensitive volatile biomarker, 2,5-dimethylpyrazine, was exclusively detected in AFB-disease larvae and hives, and was detectable in beehives with <10 AFB-symptomatic larvae. These, to our knowledge, previously undescribed biomarkers are prime candidates to be targeted by a portable sensor device for rapid and non-invasive diagnosis of AFB in beehives.

Triticeae genome sequences reveal huge expansions of gene families implicated in fertility restoration.

Breakthroughs in assembly of whole-genome sequencing and targeted sequence capture data have accelerated comparative genomics analyses in cereals with big and complex genomes such as wheat. This newly acquired information has revealed unexpected expansions in two large gene families linked to restoration of fertility in species that exhibit cytoplasmic male sterility. Extreme levels of copy-number and structural variation detected within and between species illustrate the genetic diversity among the family members and reveal the evolutionary mechanisms at work. This new knowledge will greatly facilitate the development of hybrid production strategies in wheat and related species.

Chromosome-scale genome assembly provides insights into rye biology, evolution and agronomic potential.

Rye (Secale cereale L.) is an exceptionally climate-resilient cereal crop, used extensively to produce improved wheat varieties via introgressive hybridization and possessing the entire repertoire of genes necessary to enable hybrid breeding. Rye is allogamous and only recently domesticated, thus giving cultivated ryes access to a diverse and exploitable wild gene pool. To further enhance the agronomic potential of rye, we produced a chromosome-scale annotated assembly of the 7.9-gigabase rye genome and extensively validated its quality by using a suite of molecular genetic resources. We demonstrate applications of this resource with a broad range of investigations. We present findings on cultivated rye's incomplete genetic isolation from wild relatives, mechanisms of genome structural evolution, pathogen resistance, low-temperature tolerance, fertility control systems for hybrid breeding and the yield benefits of rye-wheat introgressions.

The genetic basis of cytoplasmic male sterility and fertility restoration in wheat.

Hybrid wheat varieties give higher yields than conventional lines but are difficult to produce due to a lack of effective control of male fertility in breeding lines. One promising system involves the Rf1 and Rf3 genes that restore fertility of wheat plants carrying Triticum timopheevii-type cytoplasmic male sterility (T-CMS). Here, by genetic mapping and comparative sequence analyses, we identify Rf1 and Rf3 candidates that can restore normal pollen production in transgenic wheat plants carrying T-CMS. We show that Rf1 and Rf3 bind to the mitochondrial orf279 transcript and induce cleavage, preventing expression of the CMS trait. The identification of restorer genes in wheat is an important step towards the development of hybrid wheat varieties based on a CMS-Rf system. The characterisation of their mode of action brings insights into the molecular basis of CMS and fertility restoration in plants.

High intraspecific diversity of Restorer-of-fertility-like genes in barley.

Nuclear restorer of fertility (Rf) genes suppress the effects of mitochondrial genes causing cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS), a condition in which plants fail to produce viable pollen. Rf genes, many of which encode RNA-binding pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) proteins, are applied in hybrid breeding to overcome CMS used to block self-pollination of the seed parent. Here, we characterise the repertoire of restorer-of-fertility-like (RFL) PPR genes in barley (Hordeum vulgare). We found 26 RFL genes in the reference genome ('Morex') and an additional 51 putative orthogroups (POGs) in a re-sequencing data set from 262 barley genotypes and landraces. Whereas the sequences of some POGs are highly conserved across hundreds of barley accessions, the sequences of others are much more variable. High sequence variation strongly correlates with genomic location - the most variable genes are found in a cluster on chromosome 1H. A much higher likelihood of diversifying selection was found for genes within this cluster than for genes present as singlets. This work includes a comprehensive analysis of the patterns of intraspecific variation of RFL genes. The RFL sequences characterised in this study will be useful for the development of new markers for fertility restoration loci.

Global RNA association with the transcriptionally active chromosome of chloroplasts.

KEY MESSAGE: Processed chloroplast RNAs are co-enriched with preparations of the chloroplast transcriptionally active chromosome. Chloroplast genomes are organized as a polyploid DNA-protein structure called the nucleoid. Transcriptionally active chloroplast DNA together with tightly bound protein factors can be purified by gel filtration as a functional entity called the transcriptionally active chromosome (TAC). Previous proteomics analyses of nucleoids and of TACs demonstrated a considerable overlap in protein composition including RNA binding proteins. Therefore the RNA content of TAC preparations from Nicotiana tabacum was determined using whole genome tiling arrays. A large number of chloroplast RNAs was found to be associated with the TAC. The pattern of RNAs attached to the TAC consists of RNAs produced by different chloroplast RNA polymerases and differs from the pattern of RNA found in input controls. An analysis of RNA splicing and RNA editing of selected RNA species demonstrated that TAC-associated RNAs are processed to a similar extent as the RNA in input controls. Thus, TAC fractions contain a specific subset of the processed chloroplast transcriptome.

Evolutionary plasticity of restorer-of-fertility-like proteins in rice.

Hybrid seed production in rice relies on cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) induced by specific mitochondrial proteins, whose deleterious effects are suppressed by nuclear Restorer of Fertility (RF) genes. The majority of RF proteins belong to a specific clade of the RNA-binding pentatricopeptide repeat protein family. We have characterised 'restorer-of-fertility-like' (RFL) sequences from 13 Oryza genomes and the Brachypodium distachyon genome. The majority of the RFL sequences are found in genomic clusters located at two or three chromosomal loci with only a minor proportion being present as isolated genes. The RFL genomic cluster located on Oryza chromosome 10, the location of almost all known active rice RF genes, shows extreme variation in structure and gene content between species. We show evidence for homologous recombination events as an efficient mechanism for generating the huge repertoire of RNA sequence recognition motifs within RFL proteins and a major driver of RFL sequence evolution. The RFL sequences identified here will improve our understanding of the molecular basis of CMS and fertility restoration in plants and will accelerate the development of new breeding strategies.

Multifunctionality of plastid nucleoids as revealed by proteome analyses.

Protocols aimed at the isolation of nucleoids and transcriptionally active chromosomes (TACs) from plastids of higher plants have been established already decades ago, but only recent improvements in the mass spectrometry methods enabled detailed proteomic characterization of their components. Here we present a comprehensive analysis of the protein compositions obtained from two proteomic studies of TAC fractions isolated from Arabidopsis/mustard and spinach chloroplasts, respectively, as well as nucleoid fractions from Arabidopsis, maize and pea. Interestingly, different approaches as well as the use of diverse starting materials resulted in the detection of varying protein catalogues with a number of shared proteins. Possible reasons for the discrepancies between the protein repertoires and for missing out some of the nucleoid proteins that have been identified previously by other means than mass spectrometry as well as the repeated identification of "unexpected" proteins indicating potential links between DNA/RNA-associated nucleoid core functions and energy metabolism as well as biosynthetic activities of plastids will be discussed. In accordance with the nucleoid association of proteins involved in key functions of plastids including photosynthesis, the phenotypes of mutants lacking one or the other plastid nucleoid-associated protein (ptNAP) show the importance of nucleoid proteins for overall plant development and growth. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Plant Proteomics--a bridge between fundamental processes and crop production, edited by Dr. Hans-Peter Mock.

SOT1, a pentatricopeptide repeat protein with a small MutS-related domain, is required for correct processing of plastid 23S-4.5S rRNA precursors in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Ribosomal RNA processing is essential for plastid ribosome biogenesis, but is still poorly understood in higher plants. Here, we show that SUPPRESSOR OF THYLAKOID FORMATION1 (SOT1), a plastid-localized pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) protein with a small MutS-related domain, is required for maturation of the 23S-4.5S rRNA dicistron. Loss of SOT1 function leads to slower chloroplast development, suppression of leaf variegation, and abnormal 23S and 4.5S processing. Predictions based on the PPR motif sequences identified the 5' end of the 23S-4.5S rRNA dicistronic precursor as a putative SOT1 binding site. This was confirmed by electrophoretic mobility shift assay, and by loss of the abundant small RNA 'footprint' associated with this site in sot1 mutants. We found that more than half of the 23S-4.5S rRNA dicistrons in sot1 mutants contain eroded and/or unprocessed 5' and 3' ends, and that the endonucleolytic cleavage product normally released from the 5' end of the precursor is absent in a sot1 null mutant. We postulate that SOT1 binding protects the 5' extremity of the 23S-4.5S rRNA dicistron from exonucleolytic attack, and favours formation of the RNA structure that allows endonucleolytic processing of its 5' and 3' ends.

SVR4 (suppressor of variegation 4) and SVR4-like: two proteins with a role in proper organization of the chloroplast genetic machinery.

SUPPRESSOR OF VARIEGATION 4 (SVR4, also called MRL7) and its homolog SVR4-like (also called MRL7-Like) were originally identified as important proteins for proper function of the chloroplast in Arabidopsis. Both are nuclear-encoded chloroplast-located proteins, and knockout mutants of either gene result in seedling lethality. Transmission electron microscopy analysis revealed that chloroplast development is arrested at an early developmental stage in both mutants. Accordingly, in the mutant plants severely decreased levels of photosynthetic pigments as well as subunits of the photosynthetic complexes could be detected. In absence of either of the two proteins chloroplast DNA organization was clearly affected. Immunological analysis revealed that SVR4 is a component of the transcriptionally active chromosome (TAC) from barley chloroplasts. Analyses of gene expression indicate that SVR4 and SVR4-like are required for proper function of the plastid transcriptional machinery. We propose that SVR4 and SVR4-like function as molecular chaperones ensuring proper organization of the nucleoids in chloroplasts.

PPR-SMRs: ancient proteins with enigmatic functions.

A small subset of the large pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) protein family in higher plants contain a C-terminal small MutS-related (SMR) domain. Although few in number, they figure prominently in the chloroplast biogenesis and retrograde signaling literature due to their striking mutant phenotypes. In this review, we summarize current knowledge of PPR-SMR proteins focusing on Arabidopsis and maize proteomic and mutant studies. We also examine their occurrence in other organisms and have determined by phylogenetic analysis that, while they are limited to species that contain chloroplasts, their presence in algae and early branching land plant lineages indicates that the coupling of PPR motifs and an SMR domain into a single protein occurred early in the evolution of the Viridiplantae clade. In addition, we discuss their possible function and have examined conservation between SMR domains from Arabidopsis PPR proteins with those from other species that have been shown to possess endonucleolytic activity.

New insights into plastid nucleoid structure and functionality.

Investigations over many decades have revealed that nucleoids of higher plant plastids are highly dynamic with regard to their number, their structural organization and protein composition. Membrane attachment and environmental cues seem to determine the activity and functionality of the nucleoids and point to a highly regulated structure-function relationship. The heterogeneous composition and the many functions that are seemingly associated with the plastid nucleoids could be related to the high number of chromosomes per plastid. Recent proteomic studies have brought novel nucleoid-associated proteins into the spotlight and indicated that plastid nucleoids are an evolutionary hybrid possessing prokaryotic nucleoid features and eukaryotic (nuclear) chromatin components, several of which are dually targeted to the nucleus and chloroplasts. Future studies need to unravel if and how plastid-nucleus communication depends on nucleoid structure and plastid gene expression.

The core of chloroplast nucleoids contains architectural SWIB domain proteins.

A highly enriched fraction of the transcriptionally active chromosome from chloroplasts of spinach (Spinacia oleracea) was analyzed by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry to identify proteins involved in structuring of the nucleoid core. Among such plastid nucleoid-associated candidate proteins a 12-kD SWIB (SWI/SNF complex B) domain-containing protein was identified. It belongs to a subgroup of low molecular mass SWIB domain proteins, which in Arabidopsis thaliana has six members (SWIB-1 to SWIB-6) with predictions for localization in the two DNA-containing organelles. Green/red fluorescent protein fusions of four of them were shown to be targeted to chloroplasts, where they colocalize with each other as well as with the plastid envelope DNA binding protein in structures corresponding to plastid nucleoids. For SWIB-6 and SWIB-4, a second localization in mitochondria and nucleus, respectively, could be observed. SWIB-4 has a histone H1 motif next to the SWIB domain and was shown to bind to DNA. Moreover, the recombinant SWIB-4 protein was shown to induce compaction and condensation of nucleoids and to functionally complement a mutant of Escherichia coli lacking the histone-like nucleoid structuring protein H-NS.

Whirly1 in chloroplasts associates with intron containing RNAs and rarely co-localizes with nucleoids.

The nucleic acid binding protein Whirly1 of barley has been located to both chloroplasts and the nucleus of the same cell. Immunogold labelling furthermore showed that in vivo Whirly1 does not strictly co-localize with DNA in chloroplasts, while it is closely associated with DNA in the nucleus. High-resolution imaging of Whirly1-GFP and PEND-RFP fusion proteins revealed that only a minor part of Whirly1 co-localizes with nucleoids. The co-localization with nucleoids is in accordance with the detection of Whirly1 in a conventionally prepared fraction of the transcriptionally active chromosome (TAC). By further purification and enrichment of transcriptional activity Whirly1, however, was lost from the TAC fraction. Knockdown of Whirly1 in transgenic barley plants had neither impact on transcription of selected protein coding genes nor on genes coding for ribosomal RNAs or tRNAs. The results of RIP-chip experiments showed that barley Whirly1 as its maize orthologue associates with a set of intron containing plastid RNAs. Taken together, the results suggest that plastid-located Whirly1 functions primarily in RNA metabolism rather than as a DNA binding protein.