1. Transfer of a eubacteria-type cell division site-determining factor CrMinD gene to the nucleus from the chloroplast genome in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
- Author
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Yong Hu, Jiaying Zhu, Yikun He, Weiwei Zhou, Wei-Zhong Liu, Xiang-Lin Liu, and Run-Jie Zhang
- Subjects
Genetics ,Multidisciplinary ,Cell division ,fungi ,food and beverages ,Chlamydomonas reinhardtii ,Biology ,biology.organism_classification ,Mesostigma ,Chloroplast ,Horizontal gene transfer ,Plastid ,Gene ,Cell division site - Abstract
MinD is a ubiquitous ATPase that plays a crucial role in selection of the division site in eubacteria, chloroplasts, and probably Archaea. In four green algae, Mesostigma viride, Nephroselmis olivacea, Chlorella vulgaris and Prototheca wickerhamii, MinD homologues are encoded in the plastid genome. However, in Arabidopsis, MinD is a nucleus-encoded, chloroplast-targeted protein involved in chloroplast division, which suggests that MinD has been transferred to the nucleus in higher land plants. Yet the lateral gene transfer (LGT) of MinD from plastid to nucleus during plastid evolution remains poorly understood. Here, we identified a nucleus-encoded MinD homologue from unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a basal species in the green plant lineage. Overexpression of CrMinD in wild type E. coli inhibited cell division and resulted in the filamentous cell formation, clearly demonstrated the conservation of the MinD protein during the evolution of photosynthetic eukaryotes. The transient expression of CrMinD-egfp confirmed the role of CrMinD protein in the regulation of plastid division. Searching all the published plastid genomic sequences of land plants, no MinD homologues were found, which suggests that the transfer of MinD from plastid to nucleus might have occurred before the evolution of land plants.
- Published
- 2007