JXB Advance Access originally published online on August 6, 2008
Journal of Experimental Botany 2008 59(12):3485-3499; doi:10.1093/jxb/ern201
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© 2008 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This paper is available online free of all access charges (see http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/open_access.html for further details)
RESEARCH PAPER |
Arabidopsis sterol carrier protein-2 is required for normal development of seeds and seedlings
1Department of Plant Biology and Forest Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 7080, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
2School of Forestry and Biotechnology, Zhejiang Forestry University, 311300, Lin An, China
3Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacy, Åbo Akademi University, Artillerigatan 6 A III, FIN-20520 Turku, Finland
4Umeå Plant Science Center, Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 901 83 Umeå, Sweden
5IFM Biology, Linköping University, 581 83 Linköping, Sweden
* To whom correspondence should be addressed: johed{at}ifm.liu.se
The Arabidopsis thaliana sterol carrier protein-2 (AtSCP2) is a small, basic and peroxisomal protein that in vitro enhances the transfer of lipids between membranes. AtSCP2 and all other plant SCP-2 that have been identified are single-domain polypeptides, whereas in many other eukaryotes SCP-2 domains are expressed in the terminus of multidomain polypeptides. The AtSCP2 transcript is expressed in all analysed tissues and developmental stages, with the highest levels in floral tissues and in maturing seeds. The expression of AtSCP2 is highly correlated with the multifunctional protein-2 (MFP2) involved in β-oxidation. A. thaliana Atscp2-1 plants deficient in AtSCP2 show altered seed morphology, a delayed germination, and are dependent on an exogenous carbon source to avoid a delayed seedling establishment. Metabolomic investigations revealed 110 variables (putative metabolites) that differed in relative concentration between Atscp2-1 and normal A. thaliana wild-type seedlings. Microarray analysis revealed that many genes whose expression is altered in mutants with a deficiency in the glyoxylate pathway, also have a changed expression level in Atscp2-1.
Key words: Arabidopsis, β-oxidation, germination, glyoxylate cycle, lipid, lipid transport, metabolomics, microarray, peroxisomes, SCP-2
Received 25 April 2008; Revised 27 June 2008 Accepted 4 July 2008