ANALYSIS OF MITOCHONDRIAL ALKALINE/NEUTRAL INVERTASES MUTANTS

BATTAGLIA, MARINA; MARTINEZ-NOEL, GISELLE; MARTIN, MARÍA VICTORIA; SALERNO, GRACIELA; LECHNER, LEANDRA

Córdoba

Congreso; LII Reunión Anual Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Bioquímica y Biología Molecular; 2016

SAIB

Alkaline/Neutral Invertases (A/N Invs) are sucrose hydrolyzing enzymes with an optimal pH range from 6.8 to 8.0. They are the least studied enzymes in sucrose metabolism. In the last decade it was shown that A/N-Invs localized not only in the cytosol but also in mitochondria and/or plastids.The functional role of organellar isoforms is still not fully elucidated. Previous studies in Arabidopsis suggested that mitochondrial A/N-Invs have significant roles in root growth, and development and in abiotic stress adaptation. We investigated the role of three mitochondrial A/N-Invs from Arabidopsis by performing i) the functional characterization of a non-described A/N-Inv isoform from Arabidopsis, ii) the comparison of phenotypes of single and multiple mutants generated in this study, and iii) expression analysis by q-PCR. Interestingly, the three single mutants exhibited differential phenotypes regarding growth and development (root length, germination and flowering time). To date, a fully segregated triple mutant could not be obtained and we cannot discard that the presence of these mitochondrial enzymes are essential for survival.