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BIOENERGETICS AND PHOTOSYNTHESIS

Chloroplast NADPH-Thioredoxin Reductase Interacts with Photoperiodic Development in Arabidopsis^1,[W],[OA]

Department of Biology, University of Turku, FI–20014 Turku, Finland (A.L., S.K., M. Keränen, E.R.); Agrifood Research Finland, FI–21500 Piikkiö, Finland (E.-M.L.); Faculty of Biosciences, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Genetics, University of Helsinki, FI–00014 Helsinki, Finland (G.B.); and Faculty of Biosciences, University of Joensuu, FI–80101 Joensuu, Finland (N.S., M. Keinänen)

Chloroplast NADPH-thioredoxin reductase (NTRC) belongs to the thioredoxin systems that control crucial metabolic and regulatory pathways in plants. Here, by characterization of T-DNA insertion lines of NTRC gene, we uncover a novel connection between chloroplast thiol redox regulation and the control of photoperiodic growth in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Transcript and metabolite profiling revealed severe developmental and metabolic defects in ntrc plants grown under a short 8-h light period. Besides reduced chlorophyll and anthocyanin contents, ntrc plants showed alterations in the levels of amino acids and auxin. Furthermore, a low carbon assimilation rate of ntrc leaves was associated with enhanced transpiration and photorespiration. All of these characteristics of ntrc were less severe when plants were grown under a long 16-h photoperiod. Transcript profiling revealed that the mutant phenotypes of ntrc were accompanied by differential expression of genes involved in stomatal development, chlorophyll biosynthesis, chloroplast biogenesis, and circadian clock-linked light perception systems in ntrc plants. We propose that NTRC regulates several key processes, including chlorophyll biosynthesis and the shikimate pathway, in chloroplasts. In the absence of NTRC, imbalanced metabolic activities presumably modulate the chloroplast retrograde signals, leading to altered expression of nuclear genes and, ultimately, to the formation of the pleiotrophic phenotypes in ntrc mutant plants.

² These authors contributed equally to the article.

The author responsible for distribution of materials integral to the findings presented in this article in accordance with the policy described in the Instructions for Authors (www.plantphysiol.org) is: Eevi Rintamäki (evirin{at}utu.fi).

^[W] The online version of this article contains Web-only data.

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www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/doi/10.1104/pp.108.133777

^* Corresponding author; e-mail evirin{at}utu.fi.

Received December 5, 2008; accepted January 13, 2009; published January 16, 2009.

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