WSL5, a pentatricopeptide repeat protein, is essential for chloroplast biogenesis in rice under cold stress

Chloroplasts play an essential role in plant growth and development, and cold has a great effect on chloroplast development. Although many genes or regulators involved in chloroplast biogenesis and development have been isolated and characterized, many components affecting chloroplast biogenesis in the cold conditions have not yet been discovered.identification of novel components associated with cold is still lacking. In this study, we reported the functional characterization of white stripe leaf 5 (wsl5) mutant in rice. The mutant developed white-striped leaves during early leaf development and was albinic when planted under cold stress. Genetic and molecular analysis revealed that WSL5 encodes a novel chloroplast-targeted pentatricopeptide repeat protein. RNA-seq analysis showed that expression of nuclear-encoded photosynthetic genes in the mutant was significantly repressed, and expression of many chloroplast-encoded genes was also significantly changed. Notably, the WSL5 mutation c...