ABSTRACT
Ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) is the protein that is responsible for the fixation of carbon dioxide in photosynthesis. Inhibitory sugar phosphate molecules, which can include its substrate ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP), can bind to Rubisco catalytic sites and inhibit catalysis. These are removed by interaction with Rubisco activase (RA) via an ATP hydrolytic reaction. Here we show the first nanoESI mass spectra of the hexadecameric Rubisco and of RA from a higher plant (tobacco). The spectra of recombinant, purified RA revealed polydispersity in its oligomeric forms (up to hexamer) and that ADP was bound. ADP was removed by dialysis against a high ionic strength solution and nucleotide binding experiments showed that ADP bound more tightly to RA than AMP-PNP (a non-hydrolysable ATP analog). There was evidence that there may be two nucleotide binding sites per RA monomer. The oligomerization capacity of mutant and wild-type tobacco RA up to hexamers is analogous to the subunit stoichiometry for other AAA+ enzymes. This suggests assembly of RA into hexamers is likely the most active conformation for removing inhibitory sugar phosphate molecules from Rubisco to enable its catalytic competency. Stoichiometric binding of RuBP or carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate (CABP) to each of the eight catalytic sites of Rubisco was observed.
Subject(s)
Plant Proteins/chemistry , Ribulose-Bisphosphate Carboxylase/chemistry , Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization/methods , Adenosine Diphosphate/chemistry , Adenosine Diphosphate/metabolism , Adenosine Triphosphate/chemistry , Adenosine Triphosphate/metabolism , Arginine/chemistry , Arginine/metabolism , Molecular Chaperones , Molecular Weight , Mutation , Nanotechnology , Nucleotides/chemistry , Nucleotides/metabolism , Plant Proteins/genetics , Plant Proteins/metabolism , Protein Interaction Mapping , Ribulose-Bisphosphate Carboxylase/metabolism , NicotianaABSTRACT
Like many enzymes, the biogenesis of the multi-subunit CO(2)-fixing enzyme ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) in different organisms requires molecular chaperones. When expressed in Escherichia coli, the large (L) subunits of the Rubisco from the archaeabacterium Methanococcoides burtonii assemble into functional dimers (L(2)). However, further assembly into pentamers of L(2) (L(10)) occurs when expressed in tobacco chloroplasts or E. coli producing RuBP. In vitro analyses indicate that the sequential assembly of L(2) into L(10) (via detectable L(4) and L(6) intermediates) occurs without chaperone involvement and is stimulated by protein rearrangements associated with either the binding of substrate RuBP, the tight binding transition state analog carboxyarabinitol-1,5-bisphosphate, or inhibitory divalent metal ions within the active site. The catalytic properties of L(2) and L(10) M. burtonii Rubisco (MbR) were indistinguishable. At 25 degrees C they both shared a low specificity for CO(2) over O(2) (1.1 mol x mol(-1)) and RuBP carboxylation rates that were distinctively enhanced at low pH (approximately 4 s(-1) at pH 6, relative to 0.8 s(-1) at pH 8) with a temperature optimum of 55 degrees C. Like other archaeal Rubiscos, MbR also has a high O(2) affinity (K(m)(O(2)) = approximately 2.5 microM). The catalytic and structural similarities of MbR to other archaeal Rubiscos contrast with its closer sequence homology to bacterial L(2) Rubisco, complicating its classification within the Rubisco superfamily.
