Molecular-biological studies on the function of cardiolipin in higher plants

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We studied physiological roles of CL with cls mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana, in which the CLS gene for CL synthase is disrupted by T-DNA insertion. The findings obtained in this study are as follows: (1) CLS expression can control the level of CL and CL plays important roles in growth of plants. (2) CLS gene is highly expressed in cells of tissues, such as the columella and guard cells, where the number of mitochondria is higher than that in cells of other tissues, suggesting importance of CLS in mitochondria-rich cells. (3) The shape of mitochondria in cls mutants is abnormal, namely, mitochondria in mutant cells are extremely larger than those in wild-type cells. These findings demonstrate that CL plays critical roles in maintenance of mitochondrial structure and plant development.