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Organelles

Chilling paternal chloroplasts

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 24, page 166 (2023)Cite this article

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Organelle genomes are commonly inherited maternally and lack sexual recombination, thus carrying the risk of accumulating deleterious mutations. How plastid and mitochondrial genomes escape this fate remains largely unclear. Chung et al. now describe regulatory mechanisms of plastid inheritance through organelle exclusion and genome degradation and identify cold stress as a driver of paternal plastid inheritance.

Using large-scale genetic screening of fluorescently labelled paternal plastids in Nicotiana tabacum exposed to mild abiotic stress including heat, drought and chilling, the authors found that exposure of developing pollen to low temperature significantly increased the number of progeny carrying paternal plastids.

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  1. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology http://www.nature.com/nrm/

    Lisa Heinke

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  1. Lisa Heinke
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Correspondence to Lisa Heinke.

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Heinke, L. Chilling paternal chloroplasts. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 24, 166 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-023-00582-2

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