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Knoshaug EP, Sun P, Nag A, Nguyen H, Mattoon EM, Zhang N, Liu J, Chen C, Cheng J, Zhang R, St. John P, Umen J. Identification and preliminary characterization of conserved uncharacterized proteins from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, Arabidopsis thaliana, and Setaria viridis. PLANT DIRECT 2023; 7:e527. [PMID: 38044962 PMCID: PMC10690477 DOI: 10.1002/pld3.527] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2023] [Revised: 08/03/2023] [Accepted: 08/11/2023] [Indexed: 12/05/2023]
Abstract
The rapid accumulation of sequenced plant genomes in the past decade has outpaced the still difficult problem of genome-wide protein-coding gene annotation. A substantial fraction of protein-coding genes in all plant genomes are poorly annotated or unannotated and remain functionally uncharacterized. We identified unannotated proteins in three model organisms representing distinct branches of the green lineage (Viridiplantae): Arabidopsis thaliana (eudicot), Setaria viridis (monocot), and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Chlorophyte alga). Using similarity searching, we identified a subset of unannotated proteins that were conserved between these species and defined them as Deep Green proteins. Bioinformatic, genomic, and structural predictions were performed to begin classifying Deep Green genes and proteins. Compared to whole proteomes for each species, the Deep Green set was enriched for proteins with predicted chloroplast targeting signals predictive of photosynthetic or plastid functions, a result that was consistent with enrichment for daylight phase diurnal expression patterning. Structural predictions using AlphaFold and comparisons to known structures showed that a significant proportion of Deep Green proteins may possess novel folds. Though only available for three organisms, the Deep Green genes and proteins provide a starting resource of high-value targets for further investigation of potentially new protein structures and functions conserved across the green lineage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric P. Knoshaug
- Biosciences CenterNational Renewable Energy LaboratoryGoldenColoradoUSA
| | - Peipei Sun
- Donald Danforth Plant Science CenterSt. LouisMOUSA
| | - Ambarish Nag
- Computational Sciences CenterNational Renewable Energy LaboratoryGoldenColoradoUSA
| | - Huong Nguyen
- Donald Danforth Plant Science CenterSt. LouisMOUSA
- Institute of Genomics for Crop Abiotic Stress Tolerance, Department of Plant and Soil ScienceTexas Tech UniversityLubbockTexasUSA
| | - Erin M. Mattoon
- Donald Danforth Plant Science CenterSt. LouisMOUSA
- Plant and Microbial Biosciences Program, Division of Biology and Biomedical SciencesWashington University in Saint LouisSt. LouisMissouriUSA
| | | | - Jian Liu
- Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer ScienceUniversity of MissouriColumbiaMissouriUSA
| | - Chen Chen
- Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer ScienceUniversity of MissouriColumbiaMissouriUSA
| | - Jianlin Cheng
- Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer ScienceUniversity of MissouriColumbiaMissouriUSA
| | - Ru Zhang
- Donald Danforth Plant Science CenterSt. LouisMOUSA
| | - Peter St. John
- Biosciences CenterNational Renewable Energy LaboratoryGoldenColoradoUSA
| | - James Umen
- Donald Danforth Plant Science CenterSt. LouisMOUSA
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Findinier J, Grossman AR. Chlamydomonas: Fast tracking from genomics. JOURNAL OF PHYCOLOGY 2023; 59:644-652. [PMID: 37417760 DOI: 10.1111/jpy.13356] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2023] [Accepted: 06/06/2023] [Indexed: 07/08/2023]
Abstract
Elucidating biological processes has relied on the establishment of model organisms, many of which offer advantageous features such as rapid axenic growth, extensive knowledge of their physiological features and gene content, and the ease with which they can be genetically manipulated. The unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has been an exemplary model that has enabled many scientific breakthroughs over the decades, especially in the fields of photosynthesis, cilia function and biogenesis, and the acclimation of photosynthetic organisms to their environment. Here, we discuss recent molecular/technological advances that have been applied to C. reinhardtii and how they have further fostered its development as a "flagship" algal system. We also explore the future promise of this alga in leveraging advances in the fields of genomics, proteomics, imaging, and synthetic biology for addressing critical future biological issues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justin Findinier
- The Carnegie Institution for Science, Biosphere Science and Engineering, Stanford, California, USA
| | - Arthur R Grossman
- The Carnegie Institution for Science, Biosphere Science and Engineering, Stanford, California, USA
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Bachy C, Wittmers F, Muschiol J, Hamilton M, Henrissat B, Worden AZ. The Land-Sea Connection: Insights Into the Plant Lineage from a Green Algal Perspective. ANNUAL REVIEW OF PLANT BIOLOGY 2022; 73:585-616. [PMID: 35259927 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-arplant-071921-100530] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
The colonization of land by plants generated opportunities for the rise of new heterotrophic life forms, including humankind. A unique event underpinned this massive change to earth ecosystems-the advent of eukaryotic green algae. Today, an abundant marine green algal group, the prasinophytes, alongside prasinodermophytes and nonmarine chlorophyte algae, is facilitating insights into plant developments. Genome-level data allow identification of conserved proteins and protein families with extensive modifications, losses, or gains and expansion patterns that connect to niche specialization and diversification. Here, we contextualize attributes according to Viridiplantae evolutionary relationships, starting with orthologous protein families, and then focusing on key elements with marked differentiation, resulting in patchy distributions across green algae and plants. We place attention on peptidoglycan biosynthesis, important for plastid division and walls; phytochrome photosensors that are master regulators in plants; and carbohydrate-active enzymes, essential to all manner of carbohydratebiotransformations. Together with advances in algal model systems, these areas are ripe for discovering molecular roles and innovations within and across plant and algal lineages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles Bachy
- Ocean EcoSystems Biology Unit, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Fabian Wittmers
- Ocean EcoSystems Biology Unit, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Jan Muschiol
- Ocean EcoSystems Biology Unit, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Maria Hamilton
- Ocean EcoSystems Biology Unit, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Bernard Henrissat
- Architecture et Fonction des Macromolécules Biologiques, CNRS UMR 7257, Aix-Marseille Université (AMU), Marseille, France
- Department of Biological Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- DTU Bioengineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Alexandra Z Worden
- Ocean EcoSystems Biology Unit, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany
- Marine Biological Laboratories, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Plön, Germany
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Stephens TG, Gabr A, Calatrava V, Grossman AR, Bhattacharya D. Why is primary endosymbiosis so rare? THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2021; 231:1693-1699. [PMID: 34018613 PMCID: PMC8711089 DOI: 10.1111/nph.17478] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2021] [Accepted: 05/05/2021] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
Endosymbiosis is a relationship between two organisms wherein one cell resides inside the other. This affiliation, when stable and beneficial for the 'host' cell, can result in massive genetic innovation with the foremost examples being the evolution of eukaryotic organelles, the mitochondria and plastids. Despite its critical evolutionary role, there is limited knowledge about how endosymbiosis is initially established and how host-endosymbiont biology is integrated. Here, we explore this issue, using as our model the rhizarian amoeba Paulinella, which represents an independent case of primary plastid origin that occurred c. 120 million yr ago. We propose the 'chassis and engine' model that provides a theoretical framework for understanding primary plastid endosymbiosis, potentially explaining why it is so rare.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy G. Stephens
- Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA
| | - Arwa Gabr
- Graduate Program in Molecular Bioscience and Program in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
| | - Victoria Calatrava
- Department of Plant Biology, The Carnegie Institution, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Arthur R. Grossman
- Department of Plant Biology, The Carnegie Institution, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Debashish Bhattacharya
- Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA
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Occurrence, Evolution and Specificities of Iron-Sulfur Proteins and Maturation Factors in Chloroplasts from Algae. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:ijms22063175. [PMID: 33804694 PMCID: PMC8003979 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22063175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2021] [Revised: 02/25/2021] [Accepted: 03/17/2021] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Iron-containing proteins, including iron-sulfur (Fe-S) proteins, are essential for numerous electron transfer and metabolic reactions. They are present in most subcellular compartments. In plastids, in addition to sustaining the linear and cyclic photosynthetic electron transfer chains, Fe-S proteins participate in carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur assimilation, tetrapyrrole and isoprenoid metabolism, and lipoic acid and thiamine synthesis. The synthesis of Fe-S clusters, their trafficking, and their insertion into chloroplastic proteins necessitate the so-called sulfur mobilization (SUF) protein machinery. In the first part, we describe the molecular mechanisms that allow Fe-S cluster synthesis and insertion into acceptor proteins by the SUF machinery and analyze the occurrence of the SUF components in microalgae, focusing in particular on the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. In the second part, we describe chloroplastic Fe-S protein-dependent pathways that are specific to Chlamydomonas or for which Chlamydomonas presents specificities compared to terrestrial plants, putting notable emphasis on the contribution of Fe-S proteins to chlorophyll synthesis in the dark and to the fermentative metabolism. The occurrence and evolutionary conservation of these enzymes and pathways have been analyzed in all supergroups of microalgae performing oxygenic photosynthesis.
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PhotoModPlus: A web server for photosynthetic protein prediction from genome neighborhood features. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0248682. [PMID: 33730083 PMCID: PMC7968678 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248682] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2020] [Accepted: 03/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
A new web server called PhotoModPlus is presented as a platform for predicting photosynthetic proteins via genome neighborhood networks (GNN) and genome neighborhood-based machine learning. GNN enables users to visualize the overview of the conserved neighboring genes from multiple photosynthetic prokaryotic genomes and provides functional guidance on the query input. In the platform, we also present a new machine learning model utilizing genome neighborhood features for predicting photosynthesis-specific functions based on 24 prokaryotic photosynthesis-related GO terms, namely PhotoModGO. The new model performed better than the sequence-based approaches with an F1 measure of 0.872, based on nested five-fold cross-validation. Finally, we demonstrated the applications of the webserver and the new model in the identification of novel photosynthetic proteins. The server is user-friendly, compatible with all devices, and available at bicep.kmutt.ac.th/photomod.
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Grosjean N, Blaby-Haas CE. Leveraging computational genomics to understand the molecular basis of metal homeostasis. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2020; 228:1472-1489. [PMID: 32696981 DOI: 10.1111/nph.16820] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2020] [Accepted: 07/03/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Genome-based data is helping to reveal the diverse strategies plants and algae use to maintain metal homeostasis. In addition to acquisition, distribution and storage of metals, acclimating to feast or famine can involve a wealth of genes that we are just now starting to understand. The fast-paced acquisition of genome-based data, however, is far outpacing our ability to experimentally characterize protein function. Computational genomic approaches are needed to fill the gap between what is known and unknown. To avoid misconstruing bioinformatically derived data, which is the root cause of the inaccurate functional annotations that plague databases, functional inferences from diverse sources and contextualization of that evidence with a robust understanding of protein family evolution is needed. Phylogenomic- and comparative-genomic-based studies can aid in the interpretation of experimental data or provide a spark for the discovery of a new function. These analyses not only lead to novel insight into a target protein's function but can generate thought-provoking insights across protein families.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Grosjean
- Biology Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, 11973, USA
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Girr P, Kilper J, Pohland AC, Paulsen H. The pigment binding behaviour of water-soluble chlorophyll protein (WSCP). Photochem Photobiol Sci 2020; 19:695-712. [PMID: 32338263 DOI: 10.1039/d0pp00043d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2020] [Accepted: 04/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/17/2023]
Abstract
Water-soluble chlorophyll proteins (WSCPs) are homotetrameric proteins that bind four chlorophyll (Chl) molecules in identical binding sites, which makes WSCPs a good model to study protein-pigment interactions. In a previous study, we described preferential binding of Chl a or Chl b in various WSCP versions. Chl b binding is preferred when a hydrogen bond can be formed between the C7 formyl of the chlorin macrocycle and the protein, whereas Chl a is preferred when Chl b binding is sterically unfavorable. Here, we determined the binding affinities and kinetics of various WSCP versions not only for Chl a/b, but also for chlorophyllide (Chlide) a/b and pheophytin (Pheo) a/b. Altered KD values are responsible for the Chl a/b selectivity in WSCP whereas differences in the reaction kinetics are neglectable in explaining different Chl a/b preferences. WSCP binds both Chlide and Pheo with a lower affinity than Chl, which indicates the importance of the phytol chain and the central Mg2+ ion as interaction sites between WSCP and pigment. Pheophorbide (Pheoide), lacking both the phytol chain and the central Mg2+ ion, can only be bound as Pheoide b to a WSCP that has a higher affinity for Chl b than Chl a, which underlines the impact of the C7 formyl-protein interaction. Moreover, WSCP was able to bind protochlorophyllide and Mg-protoporphyrin IX, which suggests that neither the size of the π electron system of the macrocycle nor the presence of a fifth ring at the macrocycle notably affect the binding to WSCP. WSCP also binds heme to form a tetrameric complex, suggesting that heme is bound in the Chl-binding site.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philipp Girr
- Institute of Molecular Physiology, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Johannes-von-Müller-Weg 6, 55128, Mainz, Germany
| | - Jessica Kilper
- Institute of Molecular Physiology, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Johannes-von-Müller-Weg 6, 55128, Mainz, Germany
| | - Anne-Christin Pohland
- Institute of Molecular Physiology, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Johannes-von-Müller-Weg 6, 55128, Mainz, Germany
| | - Harald Paulsen
- Institute of Molecular Physiology, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Johannes-von-Müller-Weg 6, 55128, Mainz, Germany.
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