Literally hundreds of interacting nuclear genes are also required for mitochondrial function. The powerful approaches of genetic mutation and genetic transformation are problematic with respect to the study of mitochondria in higher organisms because mutations or transformation selection schemes that disrupt mitochondrial function are lethal to organisms that are obligate aerobes. In the S system of CMS in maize, a novel mitochondrial gene initiates a cell death program leading to pollen collapse and male sterility. Molecular and genetic mechanisms of CMS are studied to determine the role of mitochondria in plant programmed cell death. Molecular cloning and functional characterization of nuclear rf genes are pursued to understand how nuclear genes influence the organization, inheritance and expression of mitochondrial genomes.
Transgenic technologies are another important avenue for the investigation of gene function.
The mitochondrial genome has been tranformed in yeast and chlamydomonas, but there is currently no technology available for the genetic transformation of plant mitochondrial genomes. A second aspect of our research involves the development of a selectable marker system potentially useful for direct mitochondrial transformation in higher plants. You can follow the links below for more details and some recent publications.