About the Cover
ON THE COVER: In plant cells, chloroplasts replicate by symmetric binary fission. Chloroplast division is initiated by the formation of the stromal FtsZ ring at midchloroplast and involves two conserved division site regulators: MinD and MinE.
In this issue of Plant and Cell Physiology, Fujiwara et al. clarify the complex chloroplast phenotypes of the Arabidopsis MinE (AtMinE1)-overexpressor and the MinD (AtMinD1/ARC11) dysfunctional mutant, and show that a balance between the activities of AtMinE1 and AtMinD1 negatively determines the midchloroplast assembly of the FtsZ ring.
The cover shows a fluorescence microscopy image of own-promoter-driven AtFtsZ1–green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusion in a leaf petiole cell of the AtMinE1-overexpressor. The fluorescence signals of GFP (green) and chlorophyll autofluorescence (red) are merged. Stable overexpression of AtMinE1 results in the formation of multiple FtsZ rings. Nevertheless, according to the authors' observations, a certain population of FtsZ rings fails to complete chloroplast fission (see pp. 345–361).
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