We have investigated the adaptation of the light-harvesting system of the photosynthetic bacterium Phaeospirillum molischianum (DSM120) to very low light conditions. This strain is able to respond to changing light conditions by differentially modulating the expression of a family of puc operons that encode for peripheral light-harvesting complex (LH2) polypeptides. This modulation can result in a complete shift between the production of LH2 complexes absorbing maximally near 850 nm to those absorbing near 820 nm. In contradiction to prevailing wisdom, analysis of the LH2 rings found in the photosynthetic membranes during light adaptation are shown to have intermediate spectral and electrostatic properties. By chemical cross-linking and mass-spectrometry we show that individual LH2 rings and subunits can contain a mixture of polypeptides derived from the different operons. These observations show that polypeptide synthesis and insertion into the membrane are not strongly coupled to LH2 assembly. We show that the light-harvesting complexes resulting from this mixing could be important in maintaining photosynthetic efficiency during adaptation.chromatic adaptation | membrane protein | photosynthetic bacteria | Rhodospirillum molischianum P hotosynthetic bacteria are able to efficiently convert incident light into chemical potential energy via a light-driven cyclic electron transfer pathway (1). This process depends on the efficient absorption of incident light energy and the transfer of this energy to the reaction center. Measurements of the quantum efficiency of the light-harvesting apparatus indicate that very little energy is lost during the migration of the exciton from the point of initial absorption to the reaction center (1). The light-harvesting system of many bacteria contains two different pigment-protein complexes. The core complex contains one or two reaction centers in close association with a light-harvesting system (LH1) and a smaller peripheral complex (LH2) that transfers the absorbed excitation energy to the core complex. Both types of light-harvesting complex, LH1 and LH2, are constructed from oligomers of a similar basic subunit containing 2 polypeptides (α and β) with associated bacteriochlorophyll and carotenoid pigments. Their structures are known from x-ray crystallography (2-4), electron crystallography (5), and more recently from atomic force microscopy (6-11).The LH2 complexes are circular oligomers of typically 9 αβ subunits (3), in which 18 long wavelength-absorbing bacteriochlorophyll molecules are sandwiched between the inner ring of α-polypeptides and an outer-ring of β-polypeptides. A second series of 9 bacteriochlorohpyll molecules, closer to the cytoplasmic membrane surface, occupies gaps between the β-polypeptides. This general architecture is slightly variable, with in particular the number of monomeric units forming the circular architecture depending on the species and environmental conditions (2,7,12,13). In the species studied in this work, Phaeospirillum (Ph.) molischianum...
We have investigated the organisation of the photosynthetic apparatus in Phaeospirillum molischianum, using biochemical fractionation and functional kinetic measurements. We show that only a fraction of the ATP-synthase is present in the membrane regions which contain most of the photosynthetic apparatus and that, despite its complicated stacked structure, the intracytoplasmic membrane delimits a single connected space. We find that the diffusion time required for a quinol released by the reaction centre to reach a cytochrome bc1 complex is about 260 ms. On the other hand, the reduction of the cytochrome c chain by the cytochrome bc1 complex in the presence of a reduced quinone pool occurs with a time constant of about 5 ms. The overall turnover time of the cyclic electron transfer is about 25 ms in vivo under steady-state illumination. The sluggishness of the quinone shuttle appears to be compensated, at least in part, by the size of the quinone pool. Together, our results show that P. molischianum contains a photosynthetic system, with a very different organisation from that found in Rhodobacter sphaeroides, in which quinone/quinol diffusion between the RC and the cytochrome bc1 is likely to be the rate-limiting factor for cyclic electron transfer.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.