The chlorophyllases AtCLH1 and AtCLH2 are not essential for senescence-related chlorophyll breakdown in Arabidopsis thaliana

Nicole Schenk, Silvia Schelbert, Marion Kanwischer, Eliezer E. Goldschmidt, Peter Dörmann, Stefan Hörtensteiner*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

123 Scopus citations

Abstract

One important reaction of chlorophyll (chl) breakdown during plant senescence is the removal of the lipophilic phytol moiety by chlorophyllase. AtCLH1 and AtCLH2 were considered to be required for this reaction in Arabidopsis thaliana. Here we present evidence against this assumption. Using green fluorescent protein fusions, neither AtCLH isoform localizes to chloroplasts, the predicted site of chlorophyll breakdown. Furthermore, clh1 and clh2 single and double knockout lines are still able to degrade chlorophyll during senescence. From our data we conclude that AtCLHs are not required for senescence-related chlorophyll breakdown in vivo and propose that genuine chlorophyllase has not yet been molecularly identified.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)5517-5525
Number of pages9
JournalFEBS Letters
Volume581
Issue number28
DOIs
StatePublished - 27 Nov 2007

Keywords

  • Chlorophyll breakdown
  • Chlorophyll catabolites
  • Chlorophyllase
  • Phytol
  • Senescence

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