Abstract
Tic20 is a central, membrane-embedded component of the precursor protein translocon of the inner envelope of chloroplasts (TIC). In Arabidopsis thaliana, four different isoforms of Tic20 exist. They are annotated as atTic20-I, -II, -IV and -V and form two distinct phylogenetic subfamilies in embryophyta. Consistent with atTic20-I being the only essential isoform for chloroplast development, we show that the protein is exclusively targeted to the chloroplasts inner envelope. The same result is observed for atTic20-II. In contrast, atTic20-V is localized in thylakoids and atTic20-IV dually localizes to chloroplasts and mitochondria. These results together with the previously established expression profiles explain the recently described phenotypes of Tic20 knockout plants and point towards a functional diversification of these proteins within the family. For all Tic20 proteins a 4-helix topology is proposed irrespective of the targeted membrane, which in part could be confirmed in vivo by application of a self-assembling GFP-based topology approach. By the same approach we show that the inner envelope localized Tic20 proteins expose their C-termini to the chloroplast stroma. This localization would be consistent with the positive inside rule considering a stromal translocation intermediate as discussed.
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Acknowledgments
The work was supported by grants from Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB807-P17), the Center of Membrane Proteomics Frankfurt (CMP), the Cluster of Excellence “Macromolecular Complexes” and Volkswagenstiftung to E.S. and from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (TR985/1-1) to J.T. The authors would like to thank Oliver Mirus for bioinformatic support.
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Anu B. Machettira and Lucia E. Gross are contributed equally.
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Machettira, A.B., Gross, L.E., Sommer, M.S. et al. The localization of Tic20 proteins in Arabidopsis thaliana is not restricted to the inner envelope membrane of chloroplasts. Plant Mol Biol 77, 381 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-011-9818-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-011-9818-5