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Chloroplast RNA Synthesis and Processing

  • Chapter
The Molecular Biology of Chloroplasts and Mitochondria in Chlamydomonas

Part of the book series: Advances in Photosynthesis and Respiration ((AIPH,volume 7))

Summary

Transcription and RNA maturation are two essential steps in gene expression. In chloroplasts, transcription is carried out by at least two biochemically and genetically separable activities, which may participate in establishing different basal expression rates for ribosomal RNAs, transfer RNAs and protein-coding genes. Because chloroplast RNA polymerases do not generally terminate transcription at sites corresponding to the 3′ termini of mature transcripts, these termini must be formed by RNA processing events. In Chlamydomonas reinhardtii chloroplasts, it appears that most or all transcript 5′-ends are also formed by RNA processing rather than by transcription initiation. Thus, RNA processing converts primary transcripts of generally unknown dimensions to the mature, accumulating transcripts. Molecular, genetic and biochemical approaches have been used to unravel the chloroplast transcription and RNA processing machinery, with the most information gained to date from the analysis of chimeric reporter genes introduced into chloroplasts by biolistic transformation. The picture painted bythese data reveals both similarities and differences between these processes in Chlamydomonas and land plants. However, some perceived differences, particularly based on the phenotypes of nuclear mutants which affect chloroplast mRNA metabolism, may reflect selection or screening procedures and thus may mask an overall congruity between gene expression mechanisms in the chloroplasts of all organisms.

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Abbreviations

cpDNA:

chloroplast DNA

cpRNA:

chloroplast RNA

IR:

inverted repeat

LRP:

light-regulated promoters

NEP:

nucleus-encoded RNA polymerase

Rubisco:

ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase

TAC:

transcriptionally active chromosome

UTR:

untranslated region

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research at Cornell University, Tower Road, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA

    David B. Stern & Robert G. Drager

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  1. David B. Stern
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  2. Robert G. Drager
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Molecular Biology and Plant Biology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    J. -D. Rochaix  & M. Goldschmidt-Clermont  & 

  2. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Institute, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA

    S. Merchant

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© 1998 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Stern, D.B., Drager, R.G. (1998). Chloroplast RNA Synthesis and Processing. 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_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-48204-5_10

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

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