Post-translational coordination of chlorophyll biosynthesis and breakdown by BCMs maintains chlorophyll homeostasis during leaf development

Peng Wang (), Andreas S. Richter, Julius R. W. Kleeberg, Stefan Geimer and Bernhard Grimm ()
Additional contact information
Peng Wang: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Andreas S. Richter: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Julius R. W. Kleeberg: Universität Bayreuth
Stefan Geimer: Universität Bayreuth
Bernhard Grimm: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-17

Abstract: Abstract Chlorophyll is indispensable for life on Earth. Dynamic control of chlorophyll level, determined by the relative rates of chlorophyll anabolism and catabolism, ensures optimal photosynthesis and plant fitness. How plants post-translationally coordinate these two antagonistic pathways during their lifespan remains enigmatic. Here, we show that two Arabidopsis paralogs of BALANCE of CHLOROPHYLL METABOLISM (BCM) act as functionally conserved scaffold proteins to regulate the trade-off between chlorophyll synthesis and breakdown. During early leaf development, BCM1 interacts with GENOMES UNCOUPLED 4 to stimulate Mg-chelatase activity, thus optimizing chlorophyll synthesis. Meanwhile, BCM1’s interaction with Mg-dechelatase promotes degradation of the latter, thereby preventing chlorophyll degradation. At the onset of leaf senescence, BCM2 is up-regulated relative to BCM1, and plays a conserved role in attenuating chlorophyll degradation. These results support a model in which post-translational regulators promote chlorophyll homeostasis by adjusting the balance between chlorophyll biosynthesis and breakdown during leaf development.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-14992-9 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-14992-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-14992-9

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().