Summary
The 18-5B and 18-7G mutants of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii lack ribulosebisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase holoenzyme and contain nonsense mutations in the chloroplast gene that encodes the protein's large subunit. Spontaneous revertants of the 18-5B opal (UGA) mutant were found to be heteroplasmic in a previous study (Spreitzer et al. 1984). They appeared to contain both mutant and wild-type alleles of a suppressor gene within the chloroplast. However, revertants of the 18-7G amber (UAG) mutant could not be recovered spontaneously. In the present investigation, revertants of the opal and amber mutants were recovered after a mutagen treatment. Heteroplasmic suppression of the 18-7G amber mutant was observed, suggesting that heteroplasmic suppression may be a common genetic mechanism of polyploid genomes. Although a diversity of other revertant types was also observed, no significant alteration occurred in the oxygen sensitivity of ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase acitivity.
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Communicated by K. P. VanWinkle-Swift
This research was supported in part by USDA Grant No. 85-CRCR-1-1563, and is published as Paper No. 8185, Journal Series, Nebraska Agricultural Research Division
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Spreitzer, R.J., Chastain, C.J. Heteroplasmic suppression of an amber mutation in the Chlamydomonas chloroplast gene that encodes the large subunit of ribulosebisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase. Curr Genet 11, 611–616 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00393924
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00393924