cDNA cloning of a Sec61 homologue from the cryptomonad alga Pyrenomonas salina

Transport of proteins into cryptomonads complex plastids

Complex plastids, found in many alga groups, are surrounded by three or four membranes. Therefore, proteins of the complex plastids, which are encoded in the cell nucleus, must cross three or four membranes during transport to the plastid. To study this process we have developed a method for isolating transport-competent two membrane-bound plastids derived from the complex plastids of the cryptophyte Guillardia theta. This in vitro protein import system provides the first non-heterologous system for studying the import of proteins into four-membrane complex plastids. We use our import system as well as canine microsomes to demonstrate in the case of cryptomonads how nuclear proteins pass the first nucleomorph-encoded proteins the third and fourth membrane and discuss the potential mechanisms for protein transport across the second membrane.

Identification and characterization of a eukaryotically encoded rubredoxin in a cryptomonad alga

We have identified an open reading frame with homology to prokaryotic rubredoxins (rds) on a nucleomorph chromosome of the cryptomonad alga Guillardia theta. cDNA analysis let us propose that the rd preprotein has an NH(2)-terminal extension that functions as a transit peptide for import into the plastid. Compared to rds found in non-photosynthetic prokaryotes or found in bacteria that exhibit an anoxigenic photosynthesis apparatus, nucleomorph rd has a COOH-terminal extension, which shows high homology exclusively to the COOH-termini of cyanobacterial rds as well as to a hypothetical rd in the Arabidopsis genome. This extension can be divided into a putative membrane anchor and a stretch of about 20 amino acids with unknown function linking the common rd fold to this anchor. Overexpression of nucleomorph rd in Escherichia coli using a T7 RNA polymerase/promotor system resulted in a mixture of iron-containing holorubredoxin and zinc-substituted protein. Preliminary spectroscopic studies of the iron form of nucleomorph rd suggest the existence of a native rd-type iron site. One-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy of recombinant Zn-rd suggests the presence of a stable tertiary fold similar to that of other rd structures determined previously.

Evolutionary origin of cryptomonad microalgae: two novel chloroplast/cytosol-specific GAPDH genes as potential markers of ancestral endosymbiont and host cell components

Cryptomonads are complex microalgae which share characteristics of chromophytes (chlorophyll c, extra pair of membranes surrounding the plastids) and rhodophytes (phycobiliproteins). Unlike chromophytes, however, they contain a small nucleus-like organelle, the nucleomorph, in the periplastidial space between the inner and outer plastid membrane pairs. These cellular characteristics led to the suggestion that cryptomonads may have originated via a eukaryote-eukaryote endosymbiosis between a phagotrophic host cell and a unicellular red alga, a hypothesis supported by rRNA phylogenies. Here we characterized cDNAs of the nuclear genes encoding chloroplast and cytosolic glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenases (GAPDH) from the two cryptomonads Pyrenomonas salina and Guillardia theta. Our results suggest that in cryptomonads the classic Calvin cycle GAPDH enzyme of cyanobacterial origin, GapAB, is absent and functionally replaced by a photosynthetic GapC enzyme of proteobacterial descent, GapC1. The derived GapC1 precursor contains a typical signal/transit peptide of complex structure and sequence signatures diagnostic for dual cosubstrate specificity with NADP and NAD. In addition to this novel GapC1 gene a cytosol-specific GapC2 gene of glycolytic function has been found in both cryptomonads showing conspicuous sequence similarities to animal GAPDH. The present findings support the hypothesis that the host cell component of cryptomonads may be derived from a phototrophic rather than a organotrophic cell which lost its primary plastid after receiving a secondary one. Hence, cellular compartments of endosymbiotic origin may have been lost or replaced several times in eukaryote cell evolution, while the corresponding endosymbiotic genes (e.g., GapC1) were retained, thereby increasing the chimeric potential of the nuclear genome.

Transport of proteins in eukaryotic cells: more questions ahead

Some newly synthesized proteins contain signals that direct their transport to their final location within or outside of the cell. Targeting signals are recognized by specific protein receptors located either in the cytoplasm or in the membrane of the target organelle. Specific membrane protein complexes are involved in insertion and translocation of polypeptides across the membranes. Often, additional targeting signals are required for a polypeptide to be further transported to its site of function. In this review, we will describe the trafficking of proteins to various cellular organelles (nucleus, chloroplasts, mitochondria, peroxisomes) with emphasis on transport to and through the secretory pathway.