In higher plants, biosynthesis of cysteine is catalysed by OAS-TL [O-acetylserine(thiol)lyase], which replaces the activated acetyl group of O-acetylserine with sulfide. The enzyme is present in cytosol, plastids and mitochondria of plant cells. The sole knockout of mitochondrial OAS-TL activity (oastlC) leads to significant reduction of growth in Arabidopsis thaliana. The reason for this phenotype is still enigmatic, since mitochondrial OAS-TL accounts only for approximately 5% of total OAS-TL activity. In the present study we demonstrate that sulfide specifically intoxicates Complex IV activity, but not electron transport through Complexes II and III in isolated mitochondria of oastlC plants. Loss of mitochondrial OAS-TL activity resulted in significant inhibition of dark respiration under certain developmental conditions. The abundance of mitochondrially encoded proteins and Fe–S cluster-containing proteins was not affected in oastlC. Furthermore, oastlC seedlings were insensitive to cyanide, which is detoxified by β-cyano-alanine synthase in mitochondria at the expense of cysteine. These results indicate that in situ biosynthesis of cysteine in mitochondria is not mandatory for translation, Fe–S cluster assembly and cyanide detoxification. Finally, we uncover an OAS-TL-independent detoxification system for sulfide in mitochondria of Arabidopsis that allows oastlC plants to cope with high sulfide levels caused by abiotic stresses.
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Research Article|
June 27 2012
Cysteine biosynthesis, in concert with a novel mechanism, contributes to sulfide detoxification in mitochondria of Arabidopsis thaliana
Hannah Birke;
Hannah Birke
*Centre for Organismal Studies Heidelberg, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 360, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
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Florian H. Haas;
Florian H. Haas
*Centre for Organismal Studies Heidelberg, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 360, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
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Luit J. De Kok;
Luit J. De Kok
†Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Centre for Life Sciences, University of Groningen, 9700 CC Groningen, The Netherlands
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Janneke Balk;
Janneke Balk
‡John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7UH, U.K.
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Markus Wirtz;
Markus Wirtz
*Centre for Organismal Studies Heidelberg, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 360, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
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Rüdiger Hell
Rüdiger Hell
1
*Centre for Organismal Studies Heidelberg, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 360, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
1To whom correspondence should be addressed (email ruediger.hell@cos.uni-heidelberg.de).
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
January 17 2012
Revision Received:
April 18 2012
Accepted:
May 02 2012
Accepted Manuscript online:
May 02 2012
Online ISSN: 1470-8728
Print ISSN: 0264-6021
© The Authors Journal compilation © 2012 Biochemical Society
2012
Biochem J (2012) 445 (2): 275–283.
Article history
Received:
January 17 2012
Revision Received:
April 18 2012
Accepted:
May 02 2012
Accepted Manuscript online:
May 02 2012
Citation
Hannah Birke, Florian H. Haas, Luit J. De Kok, Janneke Balk, Markus Wirtz, Rüdiger Hell; Cysteine biosynthesis, in concert with a novel mechanism, contributes to sulfide detoxification in mitochondria of Arabidopsis thaliana. Biochem J 15 July 2012; 445 (2): 275–283. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/BJ20120038
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