Authorship：Lead author   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd  

Photosynthesis is one of the most important reactions for sustaining our environment. Photosystem II (PSII) is the initial site of photosynthetic electron transfer by water oxidation. Light in excess, however, causes the simultaneous production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), leading to photo-oxidative damage in PSII. To maintain photosynthetic activity, the PSII reaction center protein D1, which is the primary target of unavoidable photo-oxidative damage, is efficiently degraded by FtsH protease. In PSII subunits, photo-oxidative modifications of several amino acids such as Trp have been indeed documented, whereas the linkage between such modifications and D1 degradation remains elusive. Here, we show that an oxidative post-translational modification of Trp residue at the N-terminal tail of D1 is correlated with D1 degradation by FtsH during high-light stress. We revealed that Arabidopsis mutant lacking FtsH2 had increased levels of oxidative Trp residues in D1, among which an N-terminal Trp-14 was distinctively localized in the stromal side. Further characterization of Trp-14 using chloroplast transformation in Chlamydomonas indicated that substitution of D1 Trp-14 to Phe, mimicking Trp oxidation enhanced FtsH-mediated D1 degradation under high light, although the substitution did not affect protein stability and PSII activity. Molecular dynamics simulation of PSII implies that both Trp-14 oxidation and Phe substitution cause fluctuation of D1 N-terminal tail. Furthermore, Trp-14 to Phe modification appeared to have an additive effect in the interaction between FtsH and PSII core in vivo. Together, our results suggest that the Trp oxidation at its N-terminus of D1 may be one of the key oxidations in the PSII repair, leading to processive degradation by FtsH.

DOI： 10.7554/elife.88822

researchmap

Other Link： https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/88822/elife-88822-v1.xml

Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Wiley  

SUMMARY

Chloroplast ATP synthase contains subunits of plastid and nuclear genetic origin. To investigate the coordinated biogenesis of this complex, we isolated novel ATP synthase mutants in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii by screening for high light sensitivity. We report here the characterization of mutants affecting the two peripheral stalk subunits b and b′, encoded respectively by the atpF and ATPG genes, and of three independent mutants which identify the nuclear factor MDE1, required to stabilize the chloroplast‐encoded atpE mRNA. Whole‐genome sequencing revealed a transposon insertion in the 3′UTR of ATPG while mass spectrometry shows a small accumulation of functional ATP synthase in this knock‐down ATPG mutant. In contrast, knock‐out ATPG mutants, obtained by CRISPR‐Cas9 gene editing, fully prevent ATP synthase function and accumulation, as also observed in an atpF frame‐shift mutant. Crossing ATP synthase mutants with the ftsh1‐1 mutant of the major thylakoid protease identifies AtpH as an FTSH substrate, and shows that FTSH significantly contributes to the concerted accumulation of ATP synthase subunits. In mde1 mutants, the absence of atpE transcript fully prevents ATP synthase biogenesis and photosynthesis. Using chimeric atpE genes to rescue atpE transcript accumulation, we demonstrate that MDE1, a novel octotricopeptide repeat (OPR) protein, genetically targets the atpE 5′UTR. In the perspective of the primary endosymbiosis (~1.5 Gy), the recruitment of MDE1 to its atpE target exemplifies a nucleus/chloroplast interplay that evolved rather recently, in the ancestor of the CS clade of Chlorophyceae, ~300 My ago.

DOI： 10.1111/tpj.16448

researchmap

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences  

Chloroplast Fo F1 -ATP synthase (CFo CF1) converts proton motive force into chemical energy during photosynthesis. Although many studies have been done to elucidate the catalytic reaction and its regulatory mechanisms, biochemical analyses using the CFo CF1 complex have been limited because of various technical barriers, such as the difficulty in generating mutants and a low purification efficiency from spinach chloroplasts. By taking advantage of the powerful genetics available in the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, we analyzed the ATP synthesis reaction and its regulation in CFo CF1. The domains in the γ subunit involved in the redox regulation of CFo CF1 were mutated based on the reported structure. An in vivo analysis of strains harboring these mutations revealed the structural determinants of the redox response during the light/dark transitions. In addition, we established a half day purification method for the entire CFo CF1 complex from
C. reinhardtii and subsequently examined ATP synthesis activity by the acid–base transition method. We found that truncation of the β-hairpin domain resulted in a loss of redox regulation of ATP synthesis (i.e., constitutively active state) despite retaining redox-sensitive Cys residues. In contrast, truncation of the redox loop domain containing the Cys residues resulted in a marked decrease in the activity. Based on this mutation analysis, we propose a model of redox regulation of the ATP synthesis reaction by the cooperative function of the β-hairpin and the redox loop domains specific to CFo CF1.

DOI： 10.1073/pnas.2218187120

PubMed

researchmap

Authorship：Lead author,　Corresponding author   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Oxford University Press (OUP)  

Abstract

Linear photosynthetic electron flow (LEF) produces NADPH and generates a proton electrochemical potential gradient across the thylakoid membrane to synthesize ATP, both of which are required for CO2 fixation. As cellular demand for ATP and NADPH varies, cyclic electron flow (CEF) between Photosystem I and the cytochrome b6f complex (b6f) produces extra ATP. b6f regulates LEF and CEF via photosynthetic control, which is a pH-dependent b6f slowdown of plastoquinol oxidation at the lumenal site. This protection mechanism is triggered at more alkaline lumen pH in the pgr1 (proton gradient regulation 1) mutant of the vascular plant Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), which contains a Pro194Leu substitution in the b6f Rieske Iron-sulfur protein Photosynthetic Electron Transfer C (PETC) subunit. In this work, we introduced the equivalent pgr1 mutation in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii to generate PETC-P171L. Consistent with the pgr1 phenotype, PETC-P171L displayed impaired NPQ induction along with slower photoautotrophic growth under high light conditions. Our data provide evidence that the ΔpH component in PETC-P171L depends on oxygen availability. Only under low oxygen conditions was the ΔpH component sufficient to trigger a phenotype in algal PETC-P171L where the mutant b6f was more restricted to oxidize the plastoquinol pool and showed diminished electron flow through the b6f complex. These results demonstrate that photosynthetic control of different stringency are established in C. reinhardtii depending on the cellular metabolism, and the lumen pH-sensitive PETC-P171L was generated to read out various associated effects.

DOI： 10.1093/plphys/kiac575

researchmap

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Springer Science and Business Media LLC  

The assembly process of photosystem II (PSII) requires several auxiliary proteins to form assembly intermediates. In plants, early assembly intermediates comprise D1 and D2 subunits of PSII together with a few auxiliary proteins including at least ONE-HELIX PROTEIN1 (OHP1), OHP2, and HIGH-CHLOROPHYLL FLUORESCENCE 244 (HCF244) proteins. Herein, we report the basic characterization of the assembling intermediates, which we purified from Arabidopsis transgenic plants overexpressing a tagged OHP1 protein and named the OHP1 complexes. We analyzed two major forms of OHP1 complexes by mass spectrometry, which revealed that the complexes consist of OHP1, OHP2, and HCF244 in addition to the PSII subunits D1, D2, and cytochrome b559. Analysis of chlorophyll fluorescence showed that a major form of the complex binds chlorophyll a and carotenoids and performs quenching with a time constant of 420 ps. To identify the localization of the auxiliary proteins, we solubilized thylakoid membranes using a digitonin derivative, glycodiosgenin, and separated them into three fractions by ultracentrifugation, and detected these proteins in the loose pellet containing the stroma lamellae and the grana margins together with two chlorophyll biosynthesis enzymes. The results indicated that chlorophyll biosynthesis and assembly may take place in the same compartments of thylakoid membranes. Inducible suppression of the OHP2 mRNA substantially decreased the OHP2 protein in mature Arabidopsis leaves without a significant reduction in the maximum quantum yield of PSII under low-light conditions, but it compromised the yields under high-light conditions. This implies that the auxiliary protein is required for acclimation to high-light conditions.

DOI： 10.1007/s10265-022-01376-x

PubMed

researchmap

Other Link： https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10265-022-01376-x/fulltext.html

Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Oxford University Press (OUP)  

Abstract

The unicellular green alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, contains many light-harvesting complexes (LHCs) associating chlorophylls a/b and carotenoids; the major LHCIIs (types I, II, III and IV) and minor light-harvesting complexes, CP26 and CP29, for photosystem II, as well as nine LHCIs (LHCA1–9), for photosystem I. A pale green mutant BF4 exhibited impaired accumulation of LHCs due to deficiency in the Alb3.1 gene, which encodes the insertase involved in insertion, folding and assembly of LHC proteins in the thylakoid membranes. To elucidate the molecular mechanism by which ALB3.1 assists LHC assembly, we complemented BF4 to express ALB3.1 fused with no, single or triple Human influenza hemagglutinin (HA) tag at its C-terminus (cAlb3.1, cAlb3.1-HA or cAlb3.1–3HA). The resulting complemented strains accumulated most LHC proteins comparable to wild-type (WT) levels. The affinity purification of Alb3.1-HA and Alb3.1–3HA preparations showed that ALB3.1 interacts with cpSRP43 and cpSRP54 proteins of the chloroplast signal recognition particle (cpSRP) and several LHC proteins; two major LHCII proteins (types I and III), two minor LHCII proteins (CP26 and CP29) and eight LHCI proteins (LHCA1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9). Pulse-chase labeling experiments revealed that the newly synthesized major LHCII proteins were transiently bound to the Alb3.1 complex. We propose that Alb3.1 interacts with cpSRP43 and cpSRP54 to form an assembly apparatus for most LHCs in the thylakoid membranes. Interestingly, photosystem I (PSI) proteins were also detected in the Alb3.1 preparations, suggesting that the integration of LHCIs to a PSI core complex to form a PSI–LHCI subcomplex occurs before assembled LHCIs dissociate from the Alb3.1–cpSRP complex.

DOI： 10.1093/pcp/pcab146

PubMed

researchmap

Other Link： https://academic.oup.com/pcp/article-pdf/63/1/70/42960753/pcab146.pdf

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)  

Protein phosphorylation is a fundamental post-translational modification in all organisms. In photoautotrophic organisms, protein phosphorylation is essential for the fine-tuning of photosynthesis. The reversible phosphorylation of the photosystem II (PSII) core and the light-harvesting complex of PSII (LHCII) contribute to the regulation of photosynthetic activities. Besides the phosphorylation of these major proteins, recent phosphoproteomic analyses have revealed that several proteins are phosphorylated in the thylakoid membrane. In this study, we utilized the Phos-tag technology for a comprehensive assessment of protein phosphorylation in the thylakoid membrane of Arabidopsis. Phos-tag SDS-PAGE enables the mobility shift of phosphorylated proteins compared with their non-phosphorylated isoform, thus differentiating phosphorylated proteins from their non-phosphorylated isoforms. We extrapolated this technique to two-dimensional (2D) SDS-PAGE for detecting protein phosphorylation in the thylakoid membrane. Thylakoid proteins were separated in the first dimension by conventional SDS-PAGE and in the second dimension by Phos-tag SDS-PAGE. In addition to the isolation of major phosphorylated photosynthesis-related proteins, 2D Phos-tag SDS-PAGE enabled the detection of several minor phosphorylated proteins in the thylakoid membrane. The analysis of the thylakoid kinase mutants demonstrated that light-dependent protein phosphorylation was mainly restricted to the phosphorylation of the PSII core and LHCII proteins. Furthermore, we assessed the phosphorylation states of the structural domains of the thylakoid membrane, grana core, grana margin, and stroma lamella. Overall, these results demonstrated that Phos-tag SDS-PAGE is a useful biochemical tool for studying in vivo protein phosphorylation in the thylakoid membrane protein.

DOI： 10.1007/s11120-020-00803-1

PubMed

researchmap

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Elsevier BV  

DOI： 10.1016/J.BBABIO.2019.148139

researchmap

Other Link： http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7698-5350

Authorship：Lead author   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Oxford University Press (OUP)  

DOI： 10.1105/tpc.19.00770

Web of Science

researchmap

Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Elsevier BV  

DOI： 10.1016/j.bbabio.2019.148085

PubMed

researchmap

Authorship：Lead author   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Springer Science and Business Media LLC  

DOI： 10.1038/s41477-019-0438-4

Web of Science

researchmap

Other Link： https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-019-0438-4

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Nature Publishing Group  

In oxygenic photosynthesis, light energy is converted into redox energy by two photosystems (PSI and PSII). PSI forms one of the largest multiprotein complexes in thylakoid membranes consisting of a core complex, peripheral light-harvesting complexes (LHCIs) and cofactors. Although the high-resolution structure of the PSI-LHCI complex has been determined, the assembly process remains unclear due to the rapid nature of the assembly process. Here we show that two conserved chloroplast-encoded auxiliary factors, Ycf3 and Ycf4, form modules that mediate PSI assembly. The first module consists of the tetratricopeptide repeat protein Ycf3 and its interacting partner, Y3IP1, and mainly facilitates the assembly of reaction center subunits. The second module consists of oligomeric Ycf4 and facilitates the integration of peripheral PSI subunits and LHCIs into the PSI reaction center subcomplex. We reveal that these two modules are major mediators of the PSI-LHCI assembly process.

DOI： 10.1038/s41467-018-04823-3

Scopus

researchmap

Authorship：Lead author   Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：AMER SOC PLANT BIOLOGISTS  

In plants, the photosystem I (PSI) core complex stably associates with its light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b complex I (LHCI) to form the PSI-LHCI supercomplex. The vascular plant PSI core complex associates with four distinct LHCI subunits, whereas that of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii binds nine distinct LHCI subunits (LHCA1-LHCA9). The stoichiometry and configuration of these LHCI subunits in the PST-LHCI supercomplex of C. reinhardtii remain controversial. Here, we determined the stoichiometry of the nine distinct LHCI subunits relative to PSI subunits through uniform labeling of total proteins using C-14. We separated the nine LHCI polypeptides by three different sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis systems. Our data revealed that the PSI-LHCI supercomplex contains two LHCA1 proteins and one of each of the other eight LHCI subunits. Subsequently, we identified their cross-linked products by immunodetection and mass spectrometry to determine the configuration of the 10 LHCI subunits within the PSI-LHCI supercomplex. Furthermore, analyses of PSI-LHCI complexes isolated from Delta LHCA2 and Delta LHCA5 mutants and oligomeric LHCI from a PSI-deficient (Delta psaA/B) mutant provided supporting evidence for the LHCI subunit configuration. In conclusion, eight LHCI subunits bind to the PSI core at the site of PSAF subunit in two layers: LHCA1-LHCA8-LHCA7-LHCA3 from PSAG to PSAK, in the inner layer, and LHCA1-LHCA4-LHCA6-LHCA5 in the outer layer. The other two LHCI subunits, LHCA2 and LHCA9, bind PSAB between PSAG and PSAH, PSAG-LHCA9-LHCA2-PSAH. Our study provides new insights into the LHCI configuration linked to the PSI core.

DOI： 10.1104/pp.18.00749

Web of Science

researchmap

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP  

Plant cortical microtubules align perpendicular to the growth axis to determine the direction of cell growth. However, it remains unclear how plant cells form well-organized cortical microtubule arrays in the absence of a centrosome. In this study, we investigated the functions of Arabidopsis NIMA-related kinase 6 (NEK6), which regulates microtubule organization during anisotropic cell expansion. Quantitative analysis of hypocotyl cell growth in the nek6-1 mutant demonstrated that NEK6 suppresses ectopic outgrowth and promotes cell elongation in different regions of the hypocotyl. Loss of NEK6 function led to excessive microtubule waving and distortion, implying that NEK6 suppresses the aberrant cortical microtubules. Live cell imaging showed that NEK6 localizes to the microtubule lattice and to the shrinking plus and minus ends of microtubules. In agreement with this observation, the induced overexpression of NEK6 reduced and disorganized cortical microtubules and suppressed cell elongation. Furthermore, we identified five phosphorylation sites in beta-tubulin that serve as substrates for NEK6 in vitro. Alanine substitution of the phosphorylation site Thr166 promoted incorporation of mutant beta-tubulin into microtubules. Taken together, these results suggest that NEK6 promotes directional cell growth through phosphorylation of beta-tubulin and the resulting destabilization of cortical microtubules.

DOI： 10.1038/s41598-017-08453-5

Web of Science

researchmap

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：NATL ACAD SCIENCES  

Aquatic photosynthetic organisms, including the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, induce a CO2-concentrating mechanism (CCM) to maintain photosynthetic activity in CO2-limiting conditions by sensing environmental CO2 and light availability. Previously, a novel high-CO2-requiring mutant, H82, defective in the induction of the CCM, was isolated. A homolog of calcium (Ca2+)-binding protein CAS, originally found in Arabidopsis thaliana, was disrupted in H82 cells. Although Arabidopsis CAS is reported to be associated with stomatal closure or immune responses via a chloroplast-mediated retrograde signal, the relationship between a Ca2+ signal and the CCM associated with the function of CAS in an aquatic environment is still unclear. In this study, the introduction of an intact CAS gene into H82 cells restored photosynthetic affinity for inorganic carbon, and RNA-seq analyses revealed that CAS could function in maintaining the expression levels of nuclear-encoded CO2-limiting-inducible genes, including the HCO(3)(-)transporters high-light activated 3 (HLA3) and low-CO2-inducible gene A (LCIA). CAS changed its localization from dispersed across the thylakoid membrane in high-CO2 conditions or in the dark to being associated with tubule-like structures in the pyrenoid in CO2-limiting conditions, along with a significant increase of the fluorescent signals of the Ca2+ indicator in the pyrenoid. Chlamydomonas CAS had Ca2+-binding activity, and the perturbation of intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis by a Ca2+-chelator or calmodulin antagonist impaired the accumulation of HLA3 and LCIA. These results suggest that Chlamydomonas CAS is a Ca2+-mediated regulator of CCM-related genes via a retrograde signal from the pyrenoid in the chloroplast to the nucleus.

DOI： 10.1073/pnas.1606519113

Web of Science

researchmap

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：SPRINGER  

Light energy drives photosynthesis, but it simultaneously inactivates photosynthetic mechanisms. A major target site of photo-damage is photosystem II (PSII). It further targets one reaction center protein, D1, which is maintained efficiently by the PSII repair cycle. Two proteases, FtsH and Deg, are known to contribute to this process, respectively, by efficient degradation of photo-damaged D1 protein processively and endoproteolytically. This study tested whether the D1 cleavage accomplished by these proteases is affected by different monochromic lights such as blue and red light-emitting-diode light sources, remaining mindful that the use of these lights distinguishes the current models for photoinhibition: the excess-energy model and the two-step model. It is noteworthy that in the two-step model, primary damage results from the absorption of light energy in the Mn-cluster, which can be enhanced by a blue rather than a red light source. Results showed that blue and red lights affect D1 degradation differently. One prominent finding was that D1 fragmentation that is specifically generated by luminal Deg proteases was enhanced by blue light but not by red light in the mutant lacking FtsH2. Although circumstantial, this evidence supports a two-step model of PSII photo-damage. We infer that enhanced D1 fragmentation by luminal Deg proteases is a response to primary damage at the Mn-cluster.

DOI： 10.1007/s11120-015-0144-7

Web of Science

PubMed

researchmap

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：OXFORD UNIV PRESS  

PSII generates strong oxidants used for water oxidation. The secondary electron donor, Y-Z, is Tyr161 on PSII reaction center D1 protein and mediates electron transfer from the oxygen-evolving Mn4CaO5\ cluster to the primary electron donor, P680. The latest PSII crystal structure revealed the presence of a hydrogen bond network around Y-Z, which is anticipated to play important roles in the electron and proton transfer reactions. Y-Z forms a hydrogen bond with His190 which in turn forms a hydrogen bond with Asn298 on D1 protein. Although functional roles of Y-Z and His190 have already been characterized, little is known about the functional role of Asn298. Here we have generated 19 mutants from a green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, in which the Asn298 has been substituted by each of the other 19 amino acid residues. All mutants showed significantly impaired or no photosynthetic growth. Seven mutants capable of photosynthetic growth showed oxygen-evolving activity although at a significantly reduced rate. Interestingly the oxygen-evolving activity of these mutants was markedly photosensitive. The 19 mutants accumulated PSII at variable levels and showed a light-induced electron transfer reaction from 1,5-diphenylcarbazide (DPC) to 2,6-dichlorophenolin-dophenol (DCIP), suggesting that Asn298 is important for the function and photoprotection of the Mn4CaO5 cluster.

DOI： 10.1093/pcp/pcu073

Web of Science

PubMed

researchmap

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：AMER SOC PLANT BIOLOGISTS  

The Chlamydomonas reinhardtii proton gradient regulation5 (Crpgr5) mutant shows phenotypic and functional traits similar to mutants in the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) ortholog, Atpgr5, providing strong evidence for conservation of PGR5-mediated cyclic electron flow (CEF). Comparing the Crpgr5 mutant with the wild type, we discriminate two pathways for CEF and determine their maximum electron flow rates. The PGR5/proton gradient regulation-like1 (PGRL1) ferredoxin (Fd) pathway, involved in recycling excess reductant to increase ATP synthesis, may be controlled by extreme photosystem I acceptor side limitation or ATP depletion. Here, we show that PGR5/PGRL1-Fd CEF functions in accordance with an ATP/redox control model. In the absence of Rubisco and PGR5, a sustained electron flow is maintained with molecular oxygen instead of carbon dioxide serving as the terminal electron acceptor. When photosynthetic control is decreased, compensatory alternative pathways can take the full load of linear electron flow. In the case of the ATP synthase pgr5 double mutant, a decrease in photosensitivity is observed compared with the single ATPase-less mutant that we assign to a decreased proton motive force. Altogether, our results suggest that PGR5/PGRL1-Fd CEF is most required under conditions when Fd becomes overreduced and photosystem I is subjected to photoinhibition. CEF is not a valve; it only recycles electrons, but in doing so, it generates a proton motive force that controls the rate of photosynthesis. The conditions where the PGR5 pathway is most required may vary in photosynthetic organisms like C. reinhardtii from anoxia to high light to limitations imposed at the level of carbon dioxide fixation.

DOI： 10.1104/pp.113.233593

Web of Science

PubMed

researchmap

Authorship：Lead author   Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：OXFORD UNIV PRESS  

Thylakoid membranes contain two types of quinones, benzoquinone (plastoquinone) and naphthoquinone, which are involved in photosynthetic electron transfer. Unlike the benzoquinone, the chemical species of naphthoquinone present (phylloquinone, menaquinone-4 and 5'-monohydroxyphylloquinone) varies depending on the oxygenic photosynthetic organisms. The green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has been used as a model organism to study the function of the naphthoquinone bound to PSI. However, the level of phylloquinone and the presence of other naphthoquinones in this organism remain unknown. In the present study, we found that 5'-monohydroxyphylloquinone is the predominant naphthoquinone in cell and thylakoid extracts based on the retention time during reverse phase HPLC, absorption and mass spectrometry measurements. It was shown that 5'-monohydroxyphylloquinone is enriched 2.5-fold in the PSI complex as compared with thylakoid membranes but that it is absent from PSI-deficient mutant cells. We also found a small amount of phylloquinone in the cells and in the PSI complex and estimated that accumulated 5'-monohydroxyphylloquinone and phylloquinone account for approximately 90 and 10%, respectively, of the total naphthoquinone content. The ratio of these two naphthoquinones remained nearly constant in the cells and in the PSI complexes from logarithmic and stationary cell growth stages. We conclude that both 5'-monohydroxyphylloquinone and phylloquinone stably co-exist as major and minor naphthoquinones in Chlamydomonas PSI.

DOI： 10.1093/pcp/pcr168

Web of Science

PubMed

CiNii Article

researchmap

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：WILEY-BLACKWELL  

P>Although SsrA(tmRNA)-mediated trans-translation is thought to maintain the translation capacity of bacterial cells by rescuing ribosomes stalled on messenger RNA lacking an in-frame stop codon, single disruption of ssrA does not crucially hamper growth of Escherichia coli. Here, we identified YhdL (renamed ArfA for alternative ribosome-rescue factor) as a factor essential for the viability of E. coli in the absence of SsrA. The ssrA-arfA synthetic lethality was alleviated by SsrADD, an SsrA variant that adds a proteolysis-refractory tag through trans-translation, indicating that ArfA-deficient cells require continued translation, rather than subsequent proteolysis of the truncated polypeptide. In accordance with this notion, depletion of SsrA in the Delta arfA background led to reduced translation of a model protein without affecting transcription, and puromycin, a codon-independent mimic of aminoacyl-tRNA, rescued the bacterial growth under such conditions. That ArfA takes over the role of SsrA was suggested by the observation that its overexpression enabled detection of the polypeptide encoded by a model non-stop mRNA, which was otherwise SsrA-tagged and degraded. In vitro, purified ArfA acted on a ribosome-nascent chain complex to resolve the peptidyl-tRNA. These results indicate that ArfA rescues the ribosome stalled at the 3' end of a non-stop mRNA without involving trans-translation.

DOI： 10.1111/j.1365-2958.2010.07375.x

Web of Science

researchmap

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：OXFORD UNIV PRESS  

The carbon-concentrating mechanism (CCM) is essential to support photosynthesis under CO2-limiting conditions in aquatic photosynthetic organisms, including the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The CCM is assumed to be comprised of inorganic carbon transport systems that, in conjunction with carbonic anhydrases, maintain high levels of CO2 around ribulose-1, 5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase in a specific compartment called the pyrenoid. A set of transcripts up-regulated during the induction of the CCM was identified previously and designated as low-CO2 (LC)-inducible genes. Although the functional importance of one of these LC-inducible genes, LciB, has been shown recently, the biochemical properties and detailed subcellular localization of its product LCIB remain to be elucidated. Here, using yeast two-hybrid, immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry analyses we provide evidence to demonstrate that LCIB interacts with the LCIB homologous protein LCIC in yeast and invivo. We also show that LCIB and LCIC are co-localized in the vicinity of the pyrenoid under LC conditions in the light, forming a hexamer complex of approximately 350kDa, as estimated by gel filtration chromatography. LCIB localization around the pyrenoid was dependent on light illumination and LC conditions during active operation of the CCM. In contrast, in the dark or under high-CO2 conditions when the CCM was inactive, LCIB immediately diffused away from the pyrenoid. Based on these observations, we discuss possible functions of the LCIBLCIC complex in the CCM.

DOI： 10.1093/pcp/pcq105

Web of Science

PubMed

CiNii Article

researchmap

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV  

Prasinophyceae are a broad class of early-branching eukaryotic green algae. These picophytoplankton are found ubiquitously throughout the ocean and contribute considerably to global carbon-fixation. Ostreococcus tauri, as the first sequenced prasinophyte, is a model species for studying the functional evolution of light-harvesting systems in photosynthetic eukaryotes. In this study we isolated and characterized O. tauri pigment-protein complexes. Two photosystem I (PSI) fractions were obtained by sucrose density gradient centrifugation in addition to free light-harvesting complex (LHC) fraction and photosystem II (PSII) core fractions. The smaller PSI fraction contains the PSI core proteins. LHCI, which are conserved in all green plants, Lhcp1, a prasinophyte-specific LHC protein, and the minor, monomeric LHCII proteins CP26 and CP29. The larger PSI fraction contained the same antenna proteins as the smaller, with the addition of Lhca6 and Lhcp2, and a 30% larger absorption cross-section. When O. tauri was grown under high-light conditions, only the smaller PSI fraction was present. The two PSI preparations were also found to be devoid of the far-red chlorophyll fluorescence (715-730 nm), a signature of PSI in oxygenic phototrophs. These unique features of O. tauri PSI may reflect primitive light-harvesting systems in green plants and their adaptation to marine ecosystems. Possible implications for the evolution of the LHC-superfamily in photosynthetic eukaryotes are discussed. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

DOI： 10.1016/j.bbabio.2010.04.017

Web of Science

researchmap

Authorship：Lead author   Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：AMER SOC BIOCHEMISTRY MOLECULAR BIOLOGY INC  

Photosystem I (PSI) is a multiprotein complex consisting of the PSI core and peripheral light-harvesting complex I (LHCI) that together form the PSI-LHCI supercomplex in algae and higher plants. The supercomplex is synthesized in steps during which 12-15 core and 4-9 LHCI subunits are assembled. Here we report the isolation of a PSI subcomplex that separated on a sucrose density gradient from the thylakoid membranes isolated from logarithmic growth phase cells of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Pulse-chase labeling of total cellular proteins revealed that the subcomplex was synthesized de novo within 1 min and was converted to the mature PSI-LHCI during the 2-h chase period, indicating that the subcomplex was an assembly intermediate. The subcomplex was functional; it photo-oxidized P700 and demonstrated electron transfer activity. The subcomplex lacked PsaK and PsaG, however, and it bound PsaF and PsaJ weakly and was not associated with LHCI. It seemed likely that LHCI had been integrated into the subcomplex unstably and was dissociated during solubilization and/or fractionation. We, thus, infer that PsaK and PsaG stabilize the association between PSI core and LHCI complexes and that PsaK and PsaG bind to the PSI core complex after the integration of LHCI in one of the last steps of PSI complex assembly.

DOI： 10.1074/jbc.M109.098954

Web of Science

PubMed

CiNii Article

researchmap

Authorship：Lead author   Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：AMER SOC PLANT BIOLOGISTS  

Ycf4 is a thylakoid protein essential for the accumulation of photosystem I (PSI) in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Here, a tandem affinity purification tagged Ycf4 was used to purify a stable Ycf4-containing complex of > 1500 kD. This complex also contained the opsin-related COP2 and the PSI subunits PsaA, PsaB, PsaC, PsaD, PsaE, and PsaF, as identified by mass spectrometry (liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry) and immunoblotting. Almost all Ycf4 and COP2 in wildtype cells copurified by sucrose gradient ultracentrifugation and subsequent ion exchange column chromatography, indicating the intimate and exclusive association of Ycf4 and COP2. Electron microscopy revealed that the largest structures in the purified preparation measure 285 x 185 angstrom; these particles may represent several large oligomeric states. Pulse-chase protein labeling revealed that the PSI polypeptides associated with the Ycf4-containing complex are newly synthesized and partially assembled as a pigment-containing subcomplex. These results indicate that the Ycf4 complex may act as a scaffold for PSI assembly. A decrease in COP2 to 10% of wild-type levels by RNA interference increased the salt sensitivity of the Ycf4 complex stability but did not affect the accumulation of PSI, suggesting that COP2 is not essential for PSI assembly.

DOI： 10.1105/tpc.108.063313

Web of Science

PubMed

CiNii Article

researchmap

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：AMER SOC BIOCHEMISTRY MOLECULAR BIOLOGY INC  

Photosystem II (PS II) complexes are membrane protein complexes that are composed of >20 distinct subunit proteins. Similar to many other membrane protein complexes, two PS II complexes are believed to form a homo-dimer whose molecular mass is similar to 650 kDa. Contrary to this well known concept, we propose that the functional form of PS II in vivo is a monomer, based on the following observations. Deprivation of lipids caused the conversion of PS II from a monomeric form to a dimeric form. Only a monomeric PS II was detected in solubilized cyanobacterial and red algal thylakoids using blue-native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Furthermore, energy transfer between PS II units, which was observed in the purified dimeric PS II, was not detected in vivo. Our proposal will lead to a re-evaluation of many crystallographic models of membrane protein complexes in terms of their oligomerization status.

DOI： 10.1074/jbc.M109.000372

Web of Science

researchmap

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：AMER SOC BIOCHEMISTRY MOLECULAR BIOLOGY INC  

PsbT is a small chloroplast-encoded hydrophobic polypeptide associated with the D1/D2 heterodimer of the photosystem II (PSII) reaction center and is required for the efficient posttranslational repair of photodamaged PSII. Here we addressed that role in detail in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii wild type and Delta psbT cells by analyzing the activities of PSII, the assembly of PSII proteins, and the redox components of PSII during photoinhibition and repair. Strong illumination of cells for 15 min decreased the activities of electron transfer through PSII and Q, photoreduction by 50%, and it reduced the amount of atomic manganese by 20%, but it did not affect the steadystate level of PSII proteins, photoreduction of pheophytin (pheo(D1)), and the amount of bound plastoquinone (Q,), indicating that the decrease in PSII activity resulted mainly from inhibition of the electron transfer from pheo(D1) to Q(A). In wild type cells, we observed parallel recovery of electron transfer activity through PSII and Q, photoreduction, suggesting that the recovery of Q, activity is one of the rate-limiting steps of PSII repair. In Delta psbT cells, the repairs of electron transfer activity through PSII and of QA photoreduction activity were both impaired, but PSII protein turnover was unaffected. Moreover, about half the QA was lost from the PSI1 core complex during purification. Since PsbT is intimately associated with the QA-binding region on D2, we propose that this polypeptide enhances the efficient recovery of QA photoreduction by stabilizing the structure of the Q.A-binding region.

DOI： 10.1074/jbc.M606763200

Web of Science

researchmap

Language：Japanese   Publishing type：Article, review, commentary, editorial, etc. (bulletin of university, research institution)  

researchmap

Language：Japanese   Publishing type：Article, review, commentary, editorial, etc. (bulletin of university, research institution)  

researchmap

J-GLOBAL

researchmap

J-GLOBAL

researchmap

J-GLOBAL

researchmap

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper, summary (international conference)   Publisher：GENETICS SOC JAPAN  

Web of Science

researchmap

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper, summary (international conference)   Publisher：SPRINGER  

Web of Science

researchmap

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper, summary (international conference)   Publisher：SPRINGER  

Web of Science

researchmap

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper, summary (international conference)   Publisher：OXFORD UNIV PRESS  

Web of Science

researchmap

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper, summary (international conference)   Publisher：OXFORD UNIV PRESS  

Web of Science

researchmap

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper, summary (international conference)   Publisher：OXFORD UNIV PRESS  

Web of Science

researchmap

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper, summary (international conference)   Publisher：OXFORD UNIV PRESS  

Web of Science

researchmap

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper, summary (international conference)   Publisher：OXFORD UNIV PRESS  

Web of Science

researchmap

Event date： 2023.6.3 - 2023.6.4

Language：English   Presentation type：Poster presentation  

researchmap

Event date： 2023.6.3 - 2023.6.4

Language：Japanese   Presentation type：Poster presentation  

researchmap

Event date： 2023.3.15 - 2023.3.17

Language：Japanese   Presentation type：Oral presentation (general)  

researchmap

Event date： 2023.3.15 - 2023.3.17

Language：English   Presentation type：Poster presentation  

researchmap

Event date： 2023.3.3 - 2023.3.4

Language：Japanese   Presentation type：Poster presentation  

researchmap

Event date： 2022.11.15 - 2022.11.18

Language：English   Presentation type：Oral presentation (general)  

researchmap

Event date： 2022.9.28 - 2022.9.30

Presentation type：Poster presentation  

researchmap

Event date： 2022.7.31 - 2022.8.5

Language：English   Presentation type：Poster presentation  

researchmap

Event date： 2022.5.20 - 2022.5.21

Language：Japanese   Presentation type：Oral presentation (general)  

researchmap

Event date： 2022.3.22 - 2022.3.24

Language：Japanese   Presentation type：Oral presentation (general)  

researchmap

Event date： 2022.3.22 - 2022.3.24

Language：Japanese   Presentation type：Oral presentation (general)  

researchmap

Event date： 2022.3.5

Language：Japanese   Presentation type：Oral presentation (general)  

researchmap