Subategory:

Mutants

Description:

The original mutant was first crossed to MUT-621 (137c mt-) and mt- progeny was then backcrossed four times to 4A+ (MUT-4051). The mutant is resistant to paromomycin (20 μg/mL). The HMOX1 is targeted to the chloroplast and catalyzes the degradation of heme to biliverdin, which is then further reduced to phycocyanobilin by bilin reductase (PCYA, also localized to the chloroplast). Phycocyanobilin could be a retrograde signal that coordinates nuclear gene expression changes for light adaptation during dark to light transition in Chlamydomonas. Such chloroplast-nucleus signaling role of bilin is possibly also present in other photosynthetic organisms including higher plants. This mutant is a null mutant. The plasmid insert is in the first exon of the gene. HMOX1 protein was not expressed in the mutant based on Western analysis.

Species:

Chlamydomonas

Locus:

HMOX1

Chromosome:

10