Insights into chloroplast biogenesis and development

Abstract

In recent years many advances have been made to obtain insight into chloroplast biogenesis and development. In plants several plastids types exist such as the proplastid (which is the progenitor of all plastids), leucoplasts (group of colourless plastids important for storage including elaioplasts (lipids), amyloplasts (starch) or proteinoplasts (proteins)), chromoplasts (yellow to orange-coloured due to carotenoids, in flowers or in old leaves as gerontoplasts), and the green chloroplasts. Chloroplasts are indispensable for plant development; not only by performing photosynthesis and thus rendering the plant photoautotrophic, but also for biochemical processes (which in some instances can also take place in other plastids types), such as the synthesis of pigments, lipids, and plant hormones and sensing environmental stimuli. Although we understand many aspects of these processes there are gaps in our understanding of the establishment of functional chloroplasts and their regulation. Why is that so? Even though chloroplast function is comparable in all plants and most of the algae, ferns and moss, detailed analyses have revealed many differences, specifically with respect to its biogenesis. As an update to our prior review on the genetic analysis of chloroplast biogenesis and development [1] herein we will focus on recent advances in Angiosperms (monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants) that provide novel insights and highlight the challenges and prospects for unravelling the regulation of chloroplast biogenesis specifically during the establishment of the young plants. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Chloroplast Biogenesis.

Retrograde Signals Navigate the Path to Chloroplast Development

“…188 covered by soil) and develop following a dark-adapted program named skotomorphogenesis, 189 which is characterized by long hypocotyls and etiolated cotyledons that contain a form of 190 plastid referred to as etioplasts. Following light exposure, the developmental program changes 191 into photomorphogenesis, hypocotyl elongation is inhibited and the cotyledons turn green and 192 develop functional chloroplasts (Pogson et al, 2015). In adult leaves, mature chloroplasts 193 develop from proplastids in the stem cells of the apical meristem.…”

“…Numerous studies have revealed the significance of proper chloroplast development during all 184 stages of plant growth and the necessity for co-ordination between growth and chloroplast 185 development (Pogson et al, 2015;Chan et al, 2016). Much of our current knowledge of the 186 molecular mechanisms controlling chloroplast biogenesis comes from studies using the 187 angiosperm model species Arabidopsis thaliana.…”

“…Arabidopsis (Pogson et al, 2015;Gügel and Soll, 2016). However, the spatial (base-to-tip) 198 developmental gradient is more easily detected in monocotyledonous leaves (Pogson et al, 199 2015).…”

YCF1: A Green TIC: Response to the de Vries et al. Commentary

“…While there are various possibilities, including an occurrence of crucial modifications of this alternative system, the answer might be related to the characteristic chloroplast biogenesis of grasses, recently highlighted in an excellent review article by Pogson et al (2015). Compared with most other plants, including dicots whose apical meristems are generally located at the shoot tip, in grasses a unique shoot meristem called the intercalary meristem is located at the base of the leaf blade just above the ground level or near the node.…”

Short Term Effect of He-Ne Laser on Jatropha curcas Leaf Development and Amino Acid Biosynthesis: More Insights in Developmental Genetics of Oil Producing Plants

“…In addition, plastids are transmitted from generation to generation with a unique mode of inheritance, but the factors affecting this process are still needing further unravelling. In addition, chloroplasts are indispensable for plant development through achieving certain biochemical processes including the synthesis of pigments, amino acids, lipids, plant hormones and sensing environmental stimuli (Pogson et al, 2015).…”