Ribosomes play a crucial role in protein biosynthesis and are linked to plant growth and development. The RimM protein has been shown to be involved in the maturation of 30S ribosomal subunits, but its exact function in plants is still unknown. In this study, we discovered a maize mutant with white and green striate leaves (wgsl1) and reduced chlorophyll content. Genetic analysis showed that the wgsl1 mutation was recessive and controlled by a single nuclear gene. Map-based cloning of ZmWGSL1 identified a base substitution (G to A) that generated a missense mutation within the Zm00001d039036 gene in the wgsl1 mutant. Zm00001d039036 encodes a 16S rRNA processing protein containing the RimM motif. Further analysis of transcriptomic data showed that the transcript levels of many ribosomal proteins involved in the small and big ribosomal subunits were dramatically up-regulated in the wgsl1 mutant. Moreover, the level of ribosomal multimers was decreased. This suggests that ZmWGSL1 plays a crucial role in the maturation of the ribosome, leading to abnormal plant growth and development. In addition, subcellular localization results indicate that WGSL1 is localized in chloroplasts. Therefore, we suggest that WGSL1 is a nuclear-encoded protein, is transported to the chloroplast to drive functions, and affects the processing of ribosomes in the chloroplast.

核糖体在蛋白质生物合成中发挥着至关重要的作用，并与植物生长和发育有关。RimM 蛋白已被证明参与 30S 核糖体亚基的成熟，但其在植物中的确切功能仍不清楚。在这项研究中，我们发现了一种具有白色和绿色条纹叶子（wgsl1）且叶绿素含量降低的玉米突变体。遗传分析表明wgsl1突变是隐性的并且由单个核基因控制。ZmWGSL1基于图谱的克隆鉴定出碱基替换（G 至 A），该替换在wgsl1突变体的Zm00001d039036基因内产生错义突变。Zm00001d039036编码含有 RimM 基序的 16S rRNA 加工蛋白。转录组数据的进一步分析表明，在wgsl1突变体中，涉及小核糖​​体亚基和大核糖体亚基的许多核糖体蛋白的转录水平显着上调。此外，核糖体多聚体的水平降低。这表明ZmWGSL1在核糖体成熟中起着至关重要的作用，导致植物生长和发育异常。此外，亚细胞定位结果表明WGSL1定位于叶绿体中。因此，我们认为WGSL1是一种核编码蛋白，被转运至叶绿体以驱动功能，并影响叶绿体中核糖体的加工。