Linkage and recombination between nonchromosomal mutations in Chlamydomonas reinhardi

Historical perspective on Chlamydomonas as a model for basic research: 1950-1970

During the period 1950-1970, groundbreaking research on the genetic mapping of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and the use of mutant strains to analyze photosynthesis was conducted in the laboratory of R. Paul Levine at Harvard University. An account of this era, based in part on interviews with Levine, is presented.

Dispersive labelling of Chlamydomonas chloroplast DNA in (15)N- (14)N density transfer experiments

(15)N-(14)N density transfer experiments with synchronized vegetative cultures of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii revealed a dispersive labelling of chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) while the labelling of nuclear DNA was consistent with semiconservative replication. The dispersive labelling of cpDNA was progressive and extensive as after less than two net doublings of this DNA in (14)N-medium no significant amount of fully heavy, (15)N-strands could be detected in denatured cpDNA preparations; the average size of DNA in these preparations corresponded to 6% of the intact chloroplast genome or about 12 kbp. The density shifts of native cpDNA samples were found to be consistent with the net amounts of cpDNA synthesized. This observation indicates that essentially all (15)N atoms incorporated prior to the transfer were conserved and that metabolic turnover of cpDNA was probably absent. Our results are best explained by the exchange of homologous single-stranded segments between cpDNA molecules to form heteroduplex regions and by each DNA molecule undergoing several rounds of heteroduplex formation.

Perturbation of chloroplast DNA amounts and chloroplast gene transmission in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii by 5-fluorodeoxyuridine

5-Fluorodeoxyuridine selectively decreases the rate of chloroplast DNA replication in Chlamydomonas resulting after several generations of growth in equilibrium levels as low as one-seventh of normal. When the maternal parent is treated prior to mating, the decrease of chloroplast DNA appears to perturb the normal maternal transmission of chloroplast genes, dramatically increasing the proportion of exceptional zygotes transmitting chloroplast genes from the paternal parent.

The foundation of extranuclear inheritance: plastid and mitochondrial genetics

In 1909 two papers by Correns and by Baur published in volume 1 of Zeitschrift für induktive Abstammungs- und Vererbungslehre (now Molecular Genetics and Genomics) reported on the non-Mendelian inheritance of chlorophyll deficiencies. These papers, reporting the very first cases of extranuclear inheritance, laid the foundation for a new field: non-Mendelian or extranuclear genetics. Correns observed a purely maternal inheritance (in Mirabilis), whereas Baur found a biparental inheritance (in Pelargonium). Correns suspected the non-Mendelian factors in the cytoplasm, while Baur believed that the plastids carry these extranuclear factors. In the following years, Baur's hypothesis was proved to be correct. Baur subsequently developed the theory of plastid inheritance. In many genera the plastids are transmitted only uniparentally by the mother, while in a few genera there is a biparental plastid inheritance. Commonly there is random sorting of plastids during ontogenetic development. Renner and Schwemmle as well as geneticists in other countries added additional details to this theory. Pioneering studies on mitochondrial inheritance in yeast started in 1949 in the group of Ephrussi and Slonimski; respiration-deficient cells (petites in yeast, poky in Neurospora) were demonstrated to be due to mitochondrial mutations. Electron microscopical and biochemical studies (1962-1964) showed that plastids and mitochondria contain organelle-specific DNA molecules. These findings laid the molecular basis for the two branches of extranuclear inheritance: plastid and mitochondrial genetics.

Nonrandom distribution of chloroplast recombination events in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: evidence for a hotspot and an adjacent cold region

Intermolecular recombination of Chlamydomonas chloroplast genes has been analyzed in sexual crosses and following biolistic transformation. The pattern and position of specific exchange events within 15 kb of the 22-kb inverted repeat have been mapped with respect to known restriction fragment length polymorphism markers that distinguish the chloroplast genomes of the interfertile species Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Chlamydomonas smithii. Recombinant progeny were selected from two- and three-factor crosses involving point mutations conferring herbicide (dr) and antibiotic resistance (er and spr) in the psbA, 23S and 16S ribosomal RNA genes, respectively. Exchange events were not randomly distributed over the 15-kb region, but were found to occur preferentially in a 0.7-kb sequence spanning the 3' end of the psbA gene and were much less common in an adjacent region of ca. 2.0 kb. These findings are corroborated by data showing that the dr mutation is unlinked genetically (3% recombination/kb) to the er and spr rRNA mutations, which are themselves linked and show ca. 1% recombination/kb. This discrepancy is significant since the dr-er and er-spr intervals are about the same length (ca. 7 kb). During chloroplast transformation, the 0.7-kb recombination hotspot also functions as a preferential site for exchange events leading to the integration of donor psbA gene sequences. The 0.7-kb hotspot region contains four classes of 18-37-bp direct repeats also found in other intergenic regions, but no open reading frame. Using deletion constructs in a chloroplast transformation assay, the hotspot was localized to a 500-bp region that lacks most of these repeats, which suggests that the repeats themselves are not responsible for the increased recombination frequency. Within this region, a 400-bp sequence is highly conserved between the chloroplast genomes of C. reinhardtii and C. smithii and includes several structural motifs characteristic of recombination hotspots in other systems.

Targeted disruption of chloroplast genes in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

We have developed an efficient procedure for the disruption of Chlamydomonas chloroplast genes. Wild-type C. reinhardtii cells were bombarded with microprojectiles coated with a mixture of two plasmids, one encoding selectable, antibiotic-resistance mutations in the 16S ribosomal RNA gene and the other containing either the atpB or rbcL photosynthetic gene inactivated by an insertion of 0.48 kb of yeast DNA in the coding sequence. Antibiotic-resistant transformants were selected under conditions permissive for growth of non-photosynthetic mutants. Approximately half of these transformants were initially heteroplasmic for copies of the disrupted atpB or rbcL genes integrated into the recipient chloroplast genome but still retained photosynthetic competence. A small fraction of the transformants (1.1% for atpB; 4.3% for rbcL) were nonphotosynthetic and homoplasmic for the disrupted gene at the time they were isolated. Single cell cloning of the initially heteroplasmic transformants also yielded nonphotosynthetic segregants that were homoplasmic for the disrupted gene. Polypeptide products of the disrupted atpB and rbcL genes could not be detected using immunoblotting techniques. We believe that any nonessential Chlamydomonas chloroplast gene, such as those involved in photosynthesis, should be amenable to gene disruption by cotransformation. The method should prove useful for the introduction of site-specific mutations into chloroplast genes and flanking regulatory sequences with a view to elucidating their function.

Recombination between chloroplast DNAs does not occur in sexual crosses of Oenothera

Crosses of Oenothera result in the transmission of chloroplasts from both parents to their offspring. In spite of this biparental inheritance, no wild-type recombinants were recovered from crosses between different chloroplast mutants. Since more than 7500 progeny were examined, the results indicate that recombination between the chloroplast DNAs of higher plants must be a very rare event.

The non-reciprocality of organelle gene recombination in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Saccharomyces cerevisiae: some new observations and a restatement of some old problems

Organelle recombinant genotype frequencies, derived from analysis of individual mitotic zygote clones of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, were subjected to two types of statistical tests in an attempt to detect the occurrence of reciprocal recombination: (i) calculation of correlation coefficients for the frequencies of two recombinant genotypes (reciprocal or non-reciprocal pairs) within individual zygote clones, and (ii) application of the chi-square test for independence to the frequencies of zygotes yielding one or the other, neither, or both of a given recombinant pair. Applying test (i), the strongest correlations are found for non-reciprocal rather than reciprocal pairs. When the data are analyzed by method (ii), some reciprocal as well as non-reciprocal pairs appear to be produced concurrently in zygote clones. However, such deviations from independence are greatest for non-reciprocal pairs. These tests yield comparable results for yeast mitochondrial and Chlamydomonas chloroplast gene recombination, and provide no convincing evidence for reciprocal genetic exchange. Explanations for the observed lack of reciprocality are discussed with reference both to our present understanding of the molecular events responsible for genetic recombination, and to the problems which may be unique to the analysis of organelle gene recombination.

Interaction between mendelian and non-mendelian genes. Regulation of the transmission of non-mendelian genes by a mendelian gene in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

The non-Mendelian genetic element of a given mating type of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was first doubly marked by succesive mutageneses and then transferred into a number of offspring cells of the opposite mating type. In subsequent crosses of these offspring clones, the transmission pattern of the original non-Mendelian markers was analyzed. The results indicate that the mating-type gene of a given cell regulates the transmission and perhaps the recombination of the non-Mendelian genes regardless of whether the non-Mendelian markers were isolated originally in the same cell or obtained from another cell of the opposite mating type through genetic transmission. The regulation of the transmission of non-Mendelian genes in C. reinhardtii is thus apparently different from the autonomous control of the transmission of non-Mendelian mitochondrial genes in yeast by a genetic factor located on the mitochondrial genome.

A genetic map of non-Mandelian genes in Chlamydomonas

A group of eight non-Mendelian genes have been shown by recombination analysis to be linked into a linear structure or chromosome. Similar genetic maps of gene order and relative distances between genes have been constructed by two methods, one based on additivity of recombination frequencies, the other on frequency of reciprocal recombination with a postulated attachment point. The data indicate that the progeny are diploid for this linkage group, and that the strands are distributed in a precisely oriented manner at mitosis. Evidence is discussed in support of the view that this linkage group is located in chloroplast DNA.

Recombination of nonchromosomal mutations: a 3-point cross in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardi

The heterothallic, unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardi possesses both chromosomal and nonchromosomal systems of inheritance. Mutations belonging to the latter system are capable of recombination. The experiments reported show that double and triple recombinants can be obtained from crosses employing three phenotypically distinct mutations and that certain pairs of mutants recombine more freely than others.

Fine structure of cell division in Chlamydomonas reinhardi. Basal bodies and microtubules

Cell division in log-phase cultures of the unicellular, biflagellate alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardi, has been studied with the electron microscope. The two basal bodies of the cell replicate prior to cytokinesis; stages in basal body formation are presented. At the time of cell division, the original basal bodies detach from the flagella, and the four basal bodies appear to be involved in the orientation of the plane of the cleavage furrow. Four sets of microtubules participate in cell division. Spindle microtubules are involved in a mitosis that is marked by the presence of an intact nuclear envelope. A band of microtubules arcs over the mitotic nucleus, indicating the future cleavage plane. A third set of microtubules appears between the daughter nuclei at telophase, and microtubules comprising the "cleavage apparatus" radiate from the basal bodies and extend along both sides of the cleavage furrow during cytokinesis. Features of cell division in C. reinhardi are discussed and related to cell division in other organisms. It is proposed that microtubules participate in the formation of the cleavage furrow in C. reinhardi.