Precursor of the nuclear-encoded extrinsic 30 kDa protein in photosystem II of Euglena gracilis Z is not a polyprotein

Chloroplast phosphoglycerate kinase from Euglena gracilis

Two chloroplast phosphoglycerate kinase isoforms from the photosynthetic flagellate Euglena gracilis were purified to homogeneity, partially sequenced, and subsequently cDNAs encoding phosphoglycerate kinase isoenzymes from both the chloroplast and cytosol of E. gracilis were cloned and sequenced. Chloroplast phosphoglycerate kinase, a monomeric enzyme, was encoded as a polyprotein precursor of at least four mature subunits that were separated by conserved tetrapeptides. In a Neighbor-Net analysis of sequence similarity with homologues from numerous prokaryotes and eukaryotes, cytosolic phosphoglycerate kinase of E. gracilis showed the highest similarity to cytosolic and glycosomal homologues from the Kinetoplastida. The chloroplast isoenzyme of E. gracilis did not show a close relationship to sequences from other photosynthetic organisms but was most closely related to cytosolic homologues from animals and fungi.

Expression and functional analysis of Euglena Gracilis chloroplast initiation factor 3

A portion of a cDNA predicted to encode the mature form of Euglena gracilis chloroplast translational initiation factor 3 (IF-3chlM, molecular mass, 46 402) and the portion of this factor homologous to bacterial IF-3 (IF-3chlH, molecular mass 22 829) have been cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli as histidine-tagged proteins. The homology domain can be expressed in reasonable levels in E. coli. However, IF-3chlM is quite toxic and can only be produced in small amounts. Both forms of the chloroplast factor are associated with E. coli ribosomes. Purification procedures have been developed for both IF-3chlM and IF-3chlH using Ni-NTA affinity chromatography followed by ion exchange chromatography. IF-3chlM and IF-3chlH are active in promoting ribosome dissociation and in promoting the binding of fMet-tRNA to E. coli ribosomes. However, IF-3chlH has at least 5-fold more activity than either native IF-3chl or IF-3chlM in promoting initiation complex formation on chloroplast 30S ribosomal subunits in the presence of a mRNA carrying a natural translational initiation signal. This observation suggests that regions of IF-3chl lying outside of the homology domain may down-regulate the activity of this factor.

The presequence of the precursor to the nucleus-encoded 30 kDa protein of photosystem II in Euglena gracilis Z includes two hydrophobic domains

A cDNA clone for the extrinsic 30 kDa protein (OEC30) of photosystem II in Euglena gracilis Z was isolated and characterized. The open reading frame of the cDNA encoded a polypeptide of 338 amino acids, which consisted of a long presequence of 93 amino acids and a mature polypeptide of 245 amino acids. Two hydrophobic domains were identified in the presequence, in contrast to the presence of a single hydrophobic domain in the presequence of the corresponding proteins from higher plants. At the N- and C-terminal regions, respectively, of the presequence, a signal-peptide-like sequence and a thylakoid-transfer domain were identified. The presence of a long and unique presequence in the precursor to OEC30 is probably related to the complexity of the intracellular processes required for the synthesis and/or transport of the protein in Euglena.