Characterization of tryptophan synthase alpha subunit mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana.

Three mutations in the Arabidopsis thaliana gene encoding the alpha subunit of tryptophan synthase were isolated by selection for resistance to 5-methylanthranilate or 5-fluoroindole, toxic analogs of tryptophan pathway intermediates. Plants homozygous for trp3-1 and trp3-2 are light-conditional tryptophan auxotrophs, while trp3-100 is a more leaky mutant. Genetic complementation crosses demonstrated that the three mutations are allelic to each other, and define a new complementation group. All three mutants have decreased steady-state levels of tryptophan synthase alpha protein, and the trp3-100 polypeptide exhibits altered electrophoretic mobility. All three mutations were shown to be in the TSA1 (tryptophan synthase alpha subunit) structural gene by several criteria. Firstly, the trp3-1 mutation is linked to TSA1 on the bottom of chromosome 3. Secondly, the trp3-1 mutation was complemented when transformed with the wild-type TSA1 gene. Finally, DNA sequence analysis of the TSA1 gene revealed a single transition mutation in each trp3 mutant.