J Integr Plant Biol.

• Research Article •     Next Articles

Uncovering the role of the PPR protein PHOTOSYSTEM ONE BIOGENESIS FACTOR6 in splicing chloroplast group II introns

Mengyu Li, Mengwei Sun, Jinlian Lv, Mingming Song, Siyu Lu, Aihong Zhang* and Congming Lu*   

  1. National Key Laboratory of Wheat Improvement, College of Life Sciences, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an 271018, China
    These authors contributed equally to this work.
    *Correspondences: Congming Lu (cmlu@sdau.edu.cn, Dr. Lu is fully responsible for the distribution of all materials associated with this article); Aihong Zhang (ahzhang@sdau.edu.cn)
  • Received:2026-01-02 Accepted:2026-04-22 Online:2026-05-14
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFF1001700, C.L.).

Abstract: Nucleus-encoded proteins are involved in intron splicing in plant chloroplasts. Although many splicing factors were discovered, the mechanisms for chloroplast intron splicing remain unknown. Here, we identified a P-class pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) protein, PHOTOSYSTEM ONE BIOGENESIS FACTOR6 (PBF6), that is essential for the accumulation of photosystem I complex. PBF6 bound to ycf3 intron 1 and clpP1 intron 2, and the introns of petB, ndhA, and ndhB transcripts, and was required for their splicing. Truncated PBF6 containing the 10 N-terminal PPR motifs bound to specific sequences to ycf3 intron 1, clpP1 intron 2, and to the introns of petB, ndhA, and ndhB. PBF6 formed two multi-subunit splicing complexes with other known splicing factors from the CRM, peptidyl-tRNA hydrolase, RNase III, PORR, APO, DEAD-box RNA helicase, and mTERF families. PBF6-containing complex I was about 600 kDa, comprising nine known splicing factors: CAF1, CAF2, CRS2, CFM3a, RNC1, WTF1, APO2, RH3, and mTERF2. PBF6-containing complex II was about 300 kDa and contained three known splicing factors: CAF1, CAF2, and CFM2. Furthermore, two known PPR-type splicing factors, PBF2 and ECD2, both of which are required for splicing the ycf3 intron 1, also formed two multi-subunit splicing complexes with other known splicing factors. Importantly, these three PPR-type splicing factors formed their splicing complexes independently. Our data suggest that a PPR-type splicing factor forms splicing complexes with other known splicing factors under transient expression conditions to facilitate intron splicing and that several PPR-type splicing factors work together to promote the splicing of the same intron through forming respective splicing complexes.

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