Mitochondrial DNA rearrangements and transcriptional alterations in the male-sterile cytoplasm of Ogura radish

Abstract

Maternally inherited mutations, such as cytoplasmic male sterility, provide useful systems in which to study the function of plant mitochondrial genomes and also their interaction with nuclear genes. We have studied the organization and expression of the organelle genomes of the male-sterile cytoplasm of Ogura radish and compared them with those of normal radish to identify alterations that might be involved in cytoplasmic male sterility. The chloroplast DNAs of Ogura and normal radish are virtually indistinguishable, whereas their mitochondrial DNAs are highly rearranged. Alignment of a restriction map constructed for the 257-kilobase Ogura mitochondrial genome with that published for the 242-kilobase genome of normal radish reveals that the two mitochondrial DNAs differ in arrangement by at least 10 inversions. The transcriptional patterns of several known mitochondrial genes and of rearranged mitochondrial sequences were examined in three nuclear backgrounds. Altered transcripts were observed for three mitochondrial genes, atpA, atp6, and coxI. Rearrangements map near each of these genes and therefore may be responsible for their transcriptional alterations. Radish nuclear genes that restore fertility to the Ogura cytoplasm have no effect on the atp6 and coxI transcripts, but do influence the atpA transcriptional pattern.