Investigation Of Protein Interaction Partners Of Plant-Specific Coiled-Coil Proteins

Arabidopsis thaliana Matrix Attachment Region-Binding Filament-Like Protein 1 (AtMFP1) and Filament-like Protein 4-2 (AtFLIP4-2) are unique chloroplast proteins with a coiled-coil protein motif. Coiled-coil domains act as protein-protein interaction domains; thus, AtMFP1 and AtFLIP4-2 may be involved in protein complex formations. Long coiled-coil protein motifs are more common in eukaryotes than prokaryotes and therefore would not be expected in organelles derived from endosymbiosis. However, AtMFP1 is associated with the thylakoid membrane; and AtFLIP4-2 is thought to be located in the chloroplast envelope and could be involved in vesicle transport to form thylakoids. The objective of this research was to further investigate AtMFP1, AtFLIP4-2, and the proteins that interact with AtMFP1 and AtFLIP4-2, and their direct or indirect involvement in photosynthetic processes.