Gene expression in chloroplasts is regulated by many nuclear-encoded proteins. In this study, we isolated a rice (Oryza sativa subsp. japonica) mutant osotp51 with significant reduction in photosystem I (PSI). The osotp51 is extremely sensitive to light and accumulates a higher level of reactive oxygen species. Its leaves are almost albino when grown at 40 μmol photons/m2 per s. However, grown at 4 μmol photons/m2 per s, osotp51 has a similar phenotype to the wild-type. 77K chlorophyll fluorescence analysis showed a blue shift in the highest peak emission from PSI in osotp51. In addition, the level of PSI and PSII dimer is dramatically reduced in osotp51. OSOTP 51 encodes a pentatricopeptide repeats protein, homologous to organelle transcript processing 51 in Arabidopsis. Loss-of-function OSOTP51 affects intron splicing of a number of plastid genes, particularly the ycf3 coding a protein involved in the assembly of PSI complex. OSOTP51 is functionally conserved in higher plants. The mutation of osotp51 indirectly leads to a widespread change in the structure and functions of PSI, results in severe photoinhibition, and finally dies, even when grown under very low light intensity.
Ye JW, Gong ZY, Chen CG, Mi HL, Chen GY (2012) A mutation of OSOTP 51 leads to impairment of photosystem I complex assembly and serious photo-damage in rice. J. Integr. Plant Biol. 54(2), 87-98.