Plastid Movement Impaired 2, a New Gene Involved in Normal Blue-Light-Induced Chloroplast Movements in Arabidopsis

Abstract

Chloroplasts move in a light-dependent manner that can modulate the photosynthetic potential of plant cells. Identification of genes required for light-induced chloroplast movement is beginning to define the molecular machinery that controls these movements. In this work, we describe plastid movement impaired 2 (pmi2), a mutant in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) that displays attenuated chloroplast movements under intermediate and high light intensities while maintaining a normal movement response under low light intensities. In wild-type plants, fluence rates below 20 μmol m−2 s−1 of blue light lead to chloroplast accumulation on the periclinal cell walls, whereas light intensities over 20 μmol m−2 s−1 caused chloroplasts to move toward the anticlinal cell walls (avoidance response). However, at light intensities below 75 μmol m−2 s−1, chloroplasts in pmi2 leaves move to the periclinal walls; 100 μmol m−2 s−1 of blue light is required for chloroplasts in pmi2 to move to the anticlinal cell walls, indicating a shift in the light threshold for the avoidance response in the mutant. The pmi2 mutation has been mapped to a gene that encodes a protein of unknown function with a large coiled-coil domain in the N terminus and a putative P loop. PMI2 shares sequence and structural similarity with PMI15, another unknown protein in Arabidopsis that, when mutated, causes a defect in chloroplast avoidance under high-light intensities.