Plastid DNA of five ecotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana: Sequence of ndhG gene and maternal inheritance

Southern blots of BamHI, HindIII and EcoRI restriction fragments with 21 heterologous and homologous probes indicated that restriction and gene maps of plastid DNA of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) cv. Landsberg (Ler-0) is similar to that known of Columbia (Col-0) ecotype. Restriction analysis and specific Southern blots of plastid DNA of Ler-0, Cape Verdi Islands (Cvi-0), Col-0, Leiden (Le-0) and Stockholm (St-0) ecotypes revealed that, with respect to other ecotypes, only Cvi-0 lacks a BamHI site and gains a new HindIII site in the small single copy (SSC) region of plastid DNA. As in most plants, Northern blots for ndh transcripts revealed that SSC is expressed in Arabidopsis. Sequencing of a 1519b fragment around ndhG gene DNA confirmed that plastid DNA of Cvi-0 lacks a BamHI site (present in other ecotypes) at positions 46-51 down the initiation codon (ATG) of ndhG. BamHI digestions of the corresponding fragments amplified from plastid DNA of Ler-0, Cvi-0 and Ler-0 x Cvi-0 first 38 offsprings always showed maternal inheritance of plastid DNA. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.