Turnover of the D1 protein and of Photosystem II in a Synechocystis 6803 mutant lacking Tyrz

Post-translational amino acid conversion in photosystem II as a possible origin of photosynthetic oxygen evolution

Photosynthetic oxygen evolution is performed at the Mn cluster in photosystem II (PSII). The advent of this reaction on ancient Earth changed its environment by generating an oxygenic atmosphere. However, how oxygen evolution originated during the PSII evolution remains unknown. Here, we characterize the site-directed mutants at the carboxylate ligands to the Mn cluster in cyanobacterial PSII. A His residue replaced for D1-D170 is found to be post-translationally converted to the original Asp to recover oxygen evolution. Gln/Asn residues in the mutants at D1-E189/D1-D342 are also converted to Glu/Asp, suggesting that amino-acid conversion is a common phenomenon at the ligand sites of the Mn cluster. We hypothesize that post-translational generation of carboxylate ligands in ancestral PSII could have led to the formation of a primitive form of the Mn cluster capable of partial water oxidation, which could have played a crucial role in the evolutionary process of photosynthetic oxygen evolution.

How photosynthetic oxygen evolution is originated on ancient Earth is unknown. Here, the authors find that some amino acid residues at the ligand sites of the Mn cluster can be posttranslationally converted to the original carboxylate residues, which could have contributed to the evolutionary process of photosynthetic oxygen evolution.

The Transcriptional Landscape of the Photosynthetic Model Cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC6803

Cyanobacteria exhibit a great capacity to adapt to different environmental conditions through changes in gene expression. Although this plasticity has been extensively studied in the model cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, a detailed analysis of the coordinated transcriptional adaption across varying conditions is lacking. Here, we report a meta-analysis of 756 individual microarray measurements conducted in 37 independent studies-the most comprehensive study of the Synechocystis transcriptome to date. Using stringent statistical evaluation, we characterized the coordinated adaptation of Synechocystis' gene expression on systems level. Evaluation of the data revealed that the photosynthetic apparatus is subjected to greater changes in expression than other cellular components. Nevertheless, network analyses indicated a significant degree of transcriptional coordination of photosynthesis and various metabolic processes, and revealed the tight co-regulation of components of photosystems I, II and phycobilisomes. Detailed inspection of the integrated data led to the discovery a variety of regulatory patterns and novel putative photosynthetic genes. Intriguingly, global clustering analyses suggested contrasting transcriptional response of metabolic and regulatory genes stress to conditions. The integrated Synechocystis transcriptome can be accessed and interactively analyzed via the CyanoEXpress website (http://cyanoexpress.sysbiolab.eu).

A novel protein involved in the functional assembly of the oxygen-evolving complex of photosystem II in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

Mutation of Glu69 to Gln in the D2 protein of photosystem II is known to lead to a loss of photoautotrophic growth in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. However, second-site mutants (pseudorevertants) with restored photoautotrophic growth but still maintaining the E69Q mutation in D2 are easily obtained. Using a genomic mapping technique involving functional complementation, the secondary mutation was mapped to slr0286 in two independent mutants. The mutations in Slr0286 were R42M or R394H. To study the function of Slr0286, mutants of E69Q and of the wild-type strain were made that lacked slr0286. Deletion of slr0286 did not affect photoautotrophic capacity in wild type but led to a marked decrease in the apparent affinity of Ca(2+) to its binding site at the water-splitting system of photosystem II and to a reduced heat tolerance of the oxygen-evolving system, particularly in E69Q. Moreover, a small increase in the half-time for photoactivation of the oxygen-evolving complex of photosystem II for both wild type and the E69Q mutant was observed in the absence of Slr0286. The accumulation of photosystem II reaction centers, dark stability of the oxygen-evolving apparatus, stability of oxygen evolution, and the kinetics of charge recombination between Q(A)(-) and the donor side were not affected by deletion of slr0286. Slr0286 lacks clear functional motifs, and no homologues are apparent in other organisms, even not in other cyanobacteria. In any case, Slr0286 appears to help the functional assembly and stability of the water-splitting system of photosystem II.

Photosystem II activity and turnover of the D1 protein are impaired in the psbA Y112L mutant of Synechocystis PCC6803 sp

Site-directed psbA mutants at the tyrosine Y112 position have been generated in Synechocystis PCC6803 cells. The mutation Y112F does not affect photosystem II (PSII) activity as compared with control 4 delta 1K cells. However, the Y112L mutant exhibits a photosynthetically impaired phenotype. PSII activity is not detectable in this mutant when grown at 30 mumol photons m-2 s-1, while low levels of the D1 and D2 proteins and oxygen evolution activity are present in the mutant cells grown at a low light intensity (0.5-1 mumol m-2 s-1). The recombination of the QB-/S2,3 states of PSII in the Y112L mutant cells as detected by thermoluminescence (TL) is altered. The TL signal emission maximum of these cells due to charge recombination of the S2,3/QB- occurs at 20 degrees C as compared to 35-40 degrees C for the wild-type cells, indicating a possible change in the S2,3/Yz equilibrium. The Y112L mutant cells are rapidly photoinactivated and impaired in the recovery of the PSII activity. These results suggest that replacement of the aromatic residue at position Y112 by a hydrophobic amino acid may alter the function of the donor-side activity and affects the degradation and replacement of the PSII core proteins.

Model for the fluorescence induction curve of photoinhibited thylakoids

The fluorescence induction curve of photoinhibited thylakoids measured in the presence of 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethyl urea was modeled using an extension of the model of Lavergne and Trissl (Biophys. J. 68:2474-2492), which takes into account the reversible exciton trapping by photosystem II (PSII) reaction centers and exciton exchange between PSII units. The model of Trissl and Lavergne was modified by assuming that PSII consists of photosynthetically active and photoinhibited (inactive in oxygen evolution) units and that the inactive PSII units can efficiently dissipate energy even if they still retain the capacity for the charge separation reaction. Comparison of theoretical and experimental fluorescence induction curves of thylakoids, which had been subjected to strong light in the presence of the uncoupler nigericin, suggests connectivity between the photoinhibited and active PSII units. The model predicts that photoinhibition lowers the yield of radical pair formation in the remaining active PSII centers. However, the kinetics of PSII inactivation in nigericin-treated thylakoids upon exposure to photoinhibitory light ranging from 185 to 2650 micromol photons m-2 s-1 was strictly exponential. This may suggest that photoinhibition occurs independently of the primary electron transfer reactions of PSII or that increased production of harmful substances by photoinhibited PSII units compensates for the protection afforded by the quenching of excitation energy in photoinhibited centers.

Mutational studies on conserved histidine residues in the chlorophyll-binding protein CP43 of photosystem II

Two chlorophyll-binding antenna proteins in the photosystem II core, CP43 and CP47, are structurally similar and are thought to have evolved from a common ancestor. Several conserved histidine residues in hydrophobic regions of CP47 have been shown to be important for photosystem II structure, function, and energy transfer. The purpose of this study was to determine whether similarly located histidine residues in CP43 function in a similar way. Three conserved histidine residues in presumed membrane-spanning regions of CP43, His40, His105, and His119, were mutated to glutamine (Q) and tyrosine (Y). The strains H105Q, H119Q, and H119Y were photoautotrophs whereas H40Q, H40Y, and H105Y were obligate photoheterotrophs. The H40Y and H105Y strains lacked detectable amounts of photosystem II reaction centers and hence could not evolve oxygen whereas H40Q retained a significant amount of photosystem II and oxygen evolution capacity. The observation that mutation of histidine residues to tyrosine has more drastic effects than mutation of these residues to glutamine is in agreement with results obtained for CP47 and suggests the involvement of these residues in chlorophyll binding. The drastic functional changes observed upon mutating His40 and His105 of CP43 are similar to those observed when mutating the corresponding histidine residues in CP47, thus suggesting that the similarity between CP43 and CP47 extends to the relative importance of functionally relevant residues. Interestingly, the His40-->Gln mutation in CP43 had significant effects on photosystem II electron transfer in that it affected the thermodynamics of Q(A)- oxidation by Q(B) and increased the charge recombination rate between Q(A)- and donor side components. This indicates that relatively minor changes in CP43 can significantly impact the properties of the photosystem II reaction center. The implications of this finding are discussed.

Site-directed mutagenesis of the CP 47 protein of photosystem II: 167W in the lumenally exposed loop C is required for photosystem II assembly and stability

The intrinsic chlorophyll-protein CP 47 is a component of photosystem II which functions in both light-harvesting and oxygen evolution. Using site-directed mutagenesis we have produced the mutant W167S which lies in loop C of CP 47. This strain exhibited a 75% loss in oxygen evolution activity and grew extremely slowly in the absence of glucose. Examination of normalized oxygen evolution traces indicated that the mutant was susceptible to photoinactivation. Analysis of the variable fluorescence yield indicated that the mutant accumulated very few functional PS II reaction centers. This was confirmed by immunoblotting experiments. Interestingly, when W167S was grown in the presence of 20 microM DCMU, the mutant continued to exhibit these defects. These results indicate that tryptophan 167 in loop C of CP 47 is important for the assembly and stability of the PS II reaction center.

Donor-side photoinhibition in photosystem II from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii upon mutation of tyrosine-Z in the D1 polypeptide to phenylalanine

When tyrosine-Z of the D1-polypeptide of the photosystem II from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was changed to phenylalanine, the rapid donor to P680+ was lost, and P680+ accumulated on illumination. The rapid donation from tyrosine-Z was replaced by a slow electron transfer from an endogenous donor. Spectrophotometric measurements showed that carotenoids and chlorophylls were bleached by the P680+ either directly or indirectly upon illumination. The carotenoid bleaching was inhibited in the presence of SOD or catalase, but the reaction did not require molecular oxygen as an electron acceptor. These observations led us to conclude that active oxygen radicals, possibly hydroxyl radicals, take part in the destruction of carotenoids in the Y161F mutant. Possible mechanisms for the destruction are discussed.