Arabidopsis a bout de souffle, which is homologous with mammalian carnitine acyl carrier, is required for postembryonic growth in the light

The degradation of storage compounds just after germination is essential to plant development, providing energy and molecules necessary for the building of a photosynthetic apparatus and allowing autotrophic growth. We identified a bout de souffle (bou), a new Arabidopsis mutation. Mutant plants stopped developing after germination and degraded storage lipids, but they did not proceed to autotrophic growth. Neither leaves nor roots developed in the mutant. However, externally added sugar or germination in the dark could bypass this developmental block and allowed mutant plants to develop. The mutated gene was cloned using the transposon Dissociation as a molecular tag. The gene coding sequence showed similarity to those of the mitochondrial carnitine acyl carriers (CACs) or CAC-like proteins. In animals and yeast, these transmembrane proteins are involved in the transport of lipid-derived molecules across mitochondrial membranes for energy and carbon supply. The data presented here suggest that BOU identifies a novel mitochondrial pathway that is necessary to seedling development in the light. The BOU pathway would be an alternative to the well-known glyoxylate pathway.