Light regulates the rate of translation elongation of chloroplast reaction center protein D1.

Intact and lysed chloroplasts isolated from the day or night phase of seedling growth exhibit a higher rate of [35S]Met incorporation into the D1 protein in the light than in darkness. In the presence of the translation initiation inhibitor lincomycin, radiolabel incorporation remains unaffected for 7.5-10 min of the in vitro translation reaction, indicating that radiolabel incorporation is regulated by translation elongation. The rate of [35S]Met incorporation into D1-protein can be increased by addition of exogenous ATP to the in vitro translation reactions; however, ATP cannot replace light, and at physiological concentrations of stromal ATP (40 microM), the rate is at least 25-fold higher in the light than in darkness. This indicates that translation elongation is arrested in darkness. Separation of translation-elongation reactions into polysome-bound and membrane-integrated D1 proteins demonstrates that the rate of translation elongation is higher in the presence of light. In the light, less time is required to transiently radiolabel a D1 translation intermediate of about 17 kDa and to chase the translation intermediate into mature D1 protein. We propose that light regulates the enzymatic activity of the translation-elongation process in chloroplasts.

Light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b-binding protein stably inserts into etioplast membranes supplemented with Zn-pheophytin a/b.

Light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b-binding protein, LHCP, or its precursor, pLHCP, cannot be stably inserted into barley etioplast membranes in vitro. However, when these etioplast membranes are supplemented with the chlorophyll analogs Zn-pheophytin a/b, synthesized in situ from Zn-pheophorbide a/b and digeranyl pyrophosphate, pLHCP is inserted into a protease-resistant state. This proves that chlorophyll is the only component lacking in etioplast membranes that is necessary for stable LHCP insertion. Synthesis of Zn-pheophytin b alone promotes insertion of LHCP in vitro into a protease-resistant state, whereas synthesis of Zn-pheophytin a alone does not. Insertion of pLHCP into etioplast membranes can also be stimulated by adding chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b to the membranes, albeit at a significantly lower efficiency as compared with Zn-pheophytin a/b synthesized in situ. When pLHCP is inserted into chlorophyll- or Zn-pheophytin-supplemented etioplast membranes and then assayed with protease, only the protease digestion product indicative of the monomeric major light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b complex (LHCII) is found but not the one indicating trimeric complexes. In this respect, chlorophyll- or Zn-pheophytin-supplemented etioplast membranes resemble thylakoid membranes at an early greening stage: pLHCP inserted into plastid membranes from greening barley is assembled into trimeric LHCII only after more than 1 h of greening.

Cryopreservation of Chlorophyll Synthesis and Apoprotein Stabilization in Barley Etioplasts.

Methods for the cryopreservation of protein import and integration in pea chloroplasts and of protein import or protein synthesis in tobacco mitochondria were modified to yield enzymatically active cryopreserved etioplasts from barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). The cryoprotectants ethylene glycol and dimethy sulfoxide were about 64 and 77% effective, respectively, for the cryopreservation of etioplast intactness. Phototransformation of protochlorophyllide a, esterification of chlorophyllide a or zinc-pheophorbide a, and stabilization of the de novo synthesized plastid-encoded chlorophyll-apoproteins P700, CP47, CP43, D2, and D1 were successfully preserved in liquid nitrogen. Cryopreservation of freshly prepared intact etioplasts completely retained enzymatic activities for accumulation of chlorophyll a or resulted in a slightly decreased yield of zinc-pheophytin a.