Mitochondrial ATP synthase subunit d, a component of the peripheral stalk, is essential for growth and heat stress tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana.

As rapid changes in climate threaten global crop yields, an understanding of plant heat stress tolerance is increasingly relevant. Heat stress tolerance involves the coordinated action of many cellular processes and is particularly energy demanding. We acquired a knockout mutant and generated knockdown lines in Arabidopsis thaliana of the d subunit of mitochondrial ATP synthase (gene name: ATPQ, AT3G52300, referred to hereafter as ATPd), a subunit of the peripheral stalk, and used these to investigate the phenotypic significance of this subunit in normal growth and heat stress tolerance. Homozygous knockout mutants for ATPd could not be obtained due to gametophytic defects, while heterozygotes possess no visible phenotype. Therefore, we used RNA interference to create knockdown plant lines for further studies. Proteomic analysis and blue native gels revealed that ATPd downregulation impairs only subunits of the mitochondrial ATP synthase (complex V). Knockdown plants were more sensitive to heat stress, had abnormal leaf morphology, and were severely slow growing compared to wild type. These results indicate that ATPd plays a crucial role in proper function of the mitochondrial ATP synthase holoenzyme, which, when reduced, leads to wide-ranging defects in energy-demanding cellular processes. In knockdown plants, more hydrogen peroxide accumulated and mitochondrial dysfunction stimulon (MDS) genes were activated. These data establish the essential structural role of ATPd and support the importance of complex V in normal plant growth, and provide new information about its requirement for heat stress tolerance.