2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Regulation of Rubisco operon in red algal lineage

Research Project

Project/Area Number	24870005
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Evolutionary biology
Research Institution	University of Tsukuba
Principal Investigator	MINODA Ayumi 筑波大学, 生命環境系, 助教 (10597280)
Project Period (FY)	2012-08-31 – 2014-03-31
Keywords	ルビスコ / 紅藻 / YCf30 / 葉緑体 / 転写制御
Research Abstract	During evolution, ancestral plastids arose from a single endosymbiosis and have lost their autonomy through integration into the eukaryotic cell. However, a transcription factor, Ycf30 is retained in currently known plastid genomes of red algal and Glaucophyte lineages. Previously, we suggested transcriptional activation model of Rubisco operon by Ycf30 through sensing of photosynthetic metabolites in response to the environmental changes. In this report, to test the model in vivo, we analyzed metabolites in response to the environmental changes. During the shift from high CO2 condition to air condition, 3-PGA and RuBP were specially accumulated. This result is agreed with the model suggested previously. Ycf30 senses the change in the accumulations of photosynthetic metabolites and activates the transcription of Rubisco operon in response to the environmental changes. Red algal plastidial transcription factors represent the last relics of the autonomy of the ancestral plastid.