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The complex dominant Arabidopsis thaliana mutant lettuce (let) shows the conversion of the leaf petiole into a leaf blade caused by an ectopic leaf blade formation. This is the result of the activation tagging of the LEAFY PETIOLE (LEP) gene encoding an AP2/EREBP-like transcription factor. Here, we report that in addition to this leafy petiole phenotype, the size of the vascular bundles is increased in all aerial organs in letas a result of an increase in the number of xylem, phloem (pro)cambial and pericycle cells. This vascular phenotype is caused by activation tagging of the two genes VASCULAR TISSUE SIZE (VAS) and LEP. These genes are closely linked and arranged in tandem. Activation tagging of LEP only caused a specific increase in the number of xylem cells. This increased xylem cell number, together with the ectopic leaf blade formation, indicates that LEP functions as a cell division-promoting factor. The activation tagging of VAS only resulted in a specific increase in phloem (pro)cambial and pericycle cells. We conclude that activation tagging of LEP and VAS results in additive phenotypes. Insertional mutants for LEP and VAS display wildtype vascular development, indicating the relevance of activation tagging for functional analysis of novel genes involved in plant development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary The Arabidopsis thaliana tpt-1 mutant which is defective in the chloroplast triose phosphate/phosphate translocator (TPT) was isolated by reverse genetics. It contains a T-DNA insertion 24 bp upstream of the start ATG of the TPT gene. The mutant lacks TPT transcripts and triose phosphate (TP)-specific transport activities are reduced to below 5% of the wild type. Analyses of diurnal variations in the contents of starch, soluble sugars and phosphorylated intermediates combined with 14 CO2 labelling studies showed, that the lack of TP export for cytosolic sucrose biosynthesis was almost fully compensated by both continuous accelerated starch turnover and export of neutral sugars from the stroma throughout the day. The utilisation of glucose 6-phosphate (generated from exported glucose) rather than TP for sucrose biosynthesis in the light bypasses the key regulatory step catalysed by cytosolic fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase. Despite its regulatory role in the feed-forward control of sucrose biosynthesis, variations in the fructose 2,6-bisphosphate content upon illumination were similar in the mutant and the wild type. Crosses of tpt-1 with mutants unable to mobilise starch (sex1 ) or to synthesise starch (adg1-1 ) revealed that growth and photosynthesis of the double mutants was severely impaired only when starch biosynthesis, but not its mobilisation, was affected. For tpt-1 /sex1 combining a lack in the TPT with a deficiency in starch mobilisation, an additional compensatory mechanism emerged, i.e. the formation and (most likely) fast turnover of high molecular weight polysaccharides. Steady-state RNA levels and transport activities of other phosphate translocators capable of transporting TP remained unaffected in the mutants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]