A short PPR protein required for the splicing of specific group II introns in angiosperm chloroplasts

Arabidopsis tha8 mutants. (A) At-THA8 (At3g27750) encodes a 222-amino acid protein that is predicted to contain three PPR motifs, but with a fourth motif inferred by comparison with other THA8 orthologs. At-tha8-1 and At-tha8-2 have T-DNA and Ds insertions, respectively, in the At-THA8 locus. (B) Visual phenotype of homozygous At-tha8-1 mutants. Homozygous At-tha8-1 plants exhibit stunted growth and delayed greening with a mild chlorophyll deficiency in the middle of the rosette. (C) Defective seeds segregating in siliques of self-pollinated At-tha8-2+ plants. (D) Heteroallelic progeny of a complementation cross between At-tha8-1/+ and At-tha8-2/+ plants.