The role of cytochrome b559 and tyrosineD in protection against photoinhibition during in vivo photoactivation of photosystem II

In vivo photoactivation of Photosystem II was studied in the FUD39 mutant strain of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii which lacks the 23 kDa protein subunit involved in water oxidation. Dark grown cells, devoid of oxygen evolution, were illuminated at 0.8 µE m-2s-1 light intensity which promotes optimal activation of oxygen evolution, or at 17 µE m-2s-1, where photoactivation compete with deleterious photodamage. The involvement of the two redox active cofactors tyrosineD and cytochrome b559 during the photoactivation process, was investigated by EPR spectroscopy. TyrosineD on the D2 reaction center protein functions as auxiliary electron donor to the primary donor P+680 during the first minutes of photoactivation at 0.8 µE m-2s-1 (compare with Rova et al., Biochemistry, 37 (1998) 11039-11045.). Here we show that also cytochrome b559 was rapidly oxidized during the first 10 min of photoactivation with a similar rate to tyrosineD. This implies that both cytochrome b559 and tyrosineD may function as auxiliary electron donors to P+680 and/or the oxidized tyrosine&z.ccirf;Z on the D1 protein, to avoid photoinhibition before successful photoactivation was accomplished. As the catalytic water-oxidation successively became activated, TyrosineD remained oxidized while cytochrome b559 became rereduced to the equilibrium level that was observed prior to photoactivation. At 17 µE m-2s-1 light intensity, where photoinhibition competes significantly with photoactivation, tyrosineD was very rapidly completely oxidized, after which the amount of oxidized tyrosineD decreased due to photoinhibition. In contrast, cytochrome b559 became reduced during the first 2 min of photoactivation at 17 µE m-2s-1. After this, it was reoxidized, returning to the equilibrium level within 10 min. Thus, during in vivo photoactivation in high-light cytochrome b559 serves two functions. Initially, it probably oxidizes the reduced primary acceptor pheophytin, thereby relieving the acceptor side of reductive pressure, and later on it serves as auxiliary electron donor, preventing donor-side photoinhibition.

Coupled activation of the donor and the acceptor side of photosystem II during photoactivation of the oxygen evolving cluster.

Photoactivation of photosystem II has been studied in the FUD 39 mutant of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii that lacks the 23 kDa extrinsic subunit of photosystem II. We have taken advantage of the slow photoactivation rate of FUD 39, earlier demonstrated in Rova, E. M., et al. [(1996) J. Biol. Chem. 271, 28918-28924], to study events in photosystem II during intermediate stages of the process. By measuring the EPR multiline signal, the decay of the variable fluorescence after single flashes, and electron transfer from water to the QB site, we found a good correlation between the building of a tetrameric Mn cluster, longer recombination times between QA- and the donor side of photosystem II, and the achievement of water splitting ability. An increased rate of electron transfer from QA- to the QB site on the acceptor side of photosystem II, mainly due to enhanced efficiency of binding of QB to its site, was found to precede the building of the Mn cluster. We also showed that TyrD was oxidized simultaneously with this increase in electron-transfer rate. Thus, it appears that photoactivation is sequential, with an increased rate of electron transfer on the acceptor side occurring together with the oxidation of TyrD in the first step, followed by the assembly of the Mn cluster. We suggest that a conformational change of photosystem II is induced early in the photoactivation process facilitating electron transfer from the primary donor to the acceptor side. As a consequence, TyrD, an auxiliary electron donor to P680+/TyrZ*, is oxidized. That this occurs before the Mn cluster is fully functional serves to protect photosystem II against donor side induced photodamage.

Photosystem II in a mutant of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii lacking the 23 kDa psbP protein shows increased sensitivity to photoinhibition in the absence of chloride.

The psbP gene product, the so called 23 kDa extrinsic protein, is involved in water oxidation carried out by Photosystem II. However, the protein is not absolutely required for water oxidation. Here we have studied Photosystem II mediated electron transfer in a mutant of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, the FUD 39 mutant, that lacks the psbP protein. When grown in dim light the Photosystem II content in thylakoid membranes of FUD 39 is approximately similar to that in the wild-type. The oxygen evolution is dependent on the presence of chloride as a cofactor, which activates the water oxidation with a dissociation constant of about 4 mM. In the mutant, the oxygen evolution is very sensitive to photoinhibition when assayed at low chloride concentrations while chloride protects against photoinhibition with a dissociation constant of about 5 mM. The photoinhibition is irreversible as oxygen evolution cannot be restored by the addition of chloride to inhibited samples. In addition the inhibition seems to be targeted primarily to the Mn-cluster in Photosystem II as the electron transfer through the remaining part of Photosystem II is photoinhibited with slower kinetics. Thus, this mutant provides an experimental system in which effects of photoinhibition induced by lesions at the donor side of Photosystem II can be studied in vivo.