Sy. Miyagishima et al., Plastid division is driven by a complex mechanism that involves differential transition of the bacterial and eukaryotic division rings, PL CELL, 13(10), 2001, pp. 2257-2268
During plastid division, two structures have been detected at the division
site in separate analyses. The plastid-dividing ring can be detected by tra
nsmission electron microscopy as two (or three) electron-dense rings: an ou
ter ring on the cytosolic face of the outer envelope, occasionally a middle
ring in the intermembrane space, and an inner ring on the stromal face of
the inner envelope. The FtsZ ring, which plays a central role in bacterial
division, also is involved in plastid division and is believed to have desc
ended to plastids. from cyanobacterial endosymbiosis. The relationship betw
een the two structures is not known, although there is discussion regarding
whether they are identical. Biochemical and immunocytochemical investigati
ons, using synchronized chloroplasts of the red alga Cyanidioschyzon merola
e, showed that the plastid FtsZ ring is distinct and separable from the pla
stid-dividing ring. The FtsZ ring localizes in stroma and faces the inner p
lastid-dividing ring at the far side from the inner envelope. The FtsZ ring
and the inner and outer plastid-dividing rings form in that order before p
lastid division. The FtsZ ring disappears at the late stage of constriction
before dissociation of the plastid-dividing ring, when the constriction is
still in progress. Our results suggest that the FtsZ ring-based system, wh
ich originated from a plastid ancestor, cyanobacteria, and the plastid-divi
ding ring-based system, which probably originated from host eukaryotic cell
s, form a complex and are involved in plastid division by distinct modes.