Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Briefing
  • Published:

Chilling stress and loss of an exonuclease lead to biparental inheritance of plastids

Nature Plants volume 9, pages 9–10 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

The maternal inheritance of organelles (such as chloroplasts and mitochondria) is the rule in most eukaryotes. In tobacco, chilling stress during pollen development and deactivation of an exonuclease that degrades organellar DNA facilitate paternal plastid transmission, thereby revealing that both genetic and environmental factors determine organelle inheritance.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Low temperature and loss of DPD1 function increase paternal plastid transmission.

References

  1. O’Malley, M. A. et al. Concepts of the last eukaryotic common ancestor. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 3, 338–344 (2019). A review article summarizing the predicted features of the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Greiner, S., Sobanski, J. & Bock, R. Why are most organelle genomes transmitted maternally? BioEssays 37, 80–94 (2015). This paper reviews the modes of organelle inheritance in diverse plant species and discusses possible evolutionary explanations for the prevalence of maternal inheritance.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Ruf, S., Karcher, D. & Bock, R. Determining the transgene containment level provided by chloroplast transformation. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA. 104, 6998–7002 (2007). This paper established the method for large-scale screening for paternal plastid transmission in tobacco.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Matsushima, R., Tang, L. Y., Zhang, L., Yamada, H., Twell, D. & Sakamoto, W. A conserved Mg2+-dependent exonuclease degrades organelle DNA during Arabidopsis pollen development. Plant Cell. 23, 1608–1624 (2011). This paper identified DPD1 as a nuclease involved in organellar DNA degradation.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Greiner, S. & Bock, R. Tuning a ménage à trois: co-evolution and co-adaptation of nuclear and organellar genomes in plants. BioEssays 35, 354–365 (2013). This review explores ways by which organelles and their mode of transmission mayinfluence plant evolution.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This is a summary of: Chung, K. P. et al. Control of plastid inheritance by environmental and genetic factors. Nat. Plants https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01323-7 (2023).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chilling stress and loss of an exonuclease lead to biparental inheritance of plastids. Nat. Plants 9, 9–10 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01330-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01330-8

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing