PEX11 sculpts peroxisome architecture in Arabidopsis

PEX11 is a membrane-shaping protein implicated in peroxisome function that is encoded in five genes falling in two clades in Arabidopsis. We used a CRISPR-based approach to generate null mutations of all five PEX11 isoforms (PEX11A-E). Mutants defective in either clade have defects in generating peroxisome internal vesicles implicated in efficient fatty acid β-oxidation. pex11cde mutants have severe physiological defects, and the pex11 quintuple mutant displays seedling lethality. We are assessing the evolutionary conservation of PEX11 functions by expressing moss, yeast, and human PEX11 isoforms in Arabidopsis pex11 mutants.