Putative function of cytochrome b559 as a plastoquinol oxidase.

The function of cytochrome b559 (cyt b559) in photosystem II (PSII) was studied in a tobacco mutant in which the conserved phenylalanine at position 26 in the beta-subunit was changed to serine. Young leaves of the mutant showed no significant difference in chloroplast ultra structure or in the amount and activity of PSII, while in mature leaves the size of the grana stacks and the amount of PSII were significantly reduced. Mature leaves of the mutant showed a higher susceptibility to photoinhibition and a higher production of singlet oxygen, as shown by spin trapping electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. Oxygen consumption and superoxide production were studied in thylakoid membranes in which the Mn cluster was removed to ensure that all the cyt b559 was present in its low potential form. In thylakoid membranes, from wild-type plants, the larger fraction of superoxide production was 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea-sensitive. This type of superoxide formation was absent in thylakoid membranes from the mutant. The physiological importance of the plastoquinol oxidation by cyt b559 for photosynthesis is discussed.

Thylakoid membrane reduction affects the photosystem stoichiometry in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803.

Biogenesis of thylakoid membranes in both chloroplasts and cyanobacteria is largely not understood today. The vesicle-inducing protein in plastids 1 (Vipp1) has been suggested to be essential for thylakoid membrane formation in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), as well as in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, although its exact physiological function remains elusive so far. Here, we report that, upon depletion of Vipp1 in Synechocystis cells, the number of thylakoid layers in individual Synechocystis cells decreased, and that, in particular, the content of photosystem I (PSI) complexes was highly diminished in thylakoids. Furthermore, separation of native photosynthetic complexes indicated that PSI trimers are destabilized and the monomeric species is enriched. Therefore, depletion of thylakoid membranes specifically affects biogenesis and/or stabilization of PSI in cyanobacteria.

The cyanobacterial homologue of the RNA chaperone Hfq is essential for motility of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803.

The ssr3341 locus was previously suggested to encode an orthologue of the RNA chaperone Hfq in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803. Insertional inactivation of this gene resulted in a mutant that was not naturally transformable and exhibited a non-phototactic phenotype compared with the wild-type. The loss of motility was complemented by reintroduction of the wild-type gene, correlated with the re-establishment of type IV pili on the cell surface. Microarray analyses revealed a small set of genes with drastically reduced transcript levels in the knockout mutant compared with the wild-type cells. Among the most strongly affected genes, slr1667, slr1668, slr2015, slr2016 and slr2018 stood out, as they belong to two operons that had previously been shown to be involved in motility, controlled by the cAMP receptor protein SYCRP1. This suggests a link between cAMP signalling, motility and possibly the involvement of RNA-based regulation. This is believed to be the first report demonstrating a functional role of an Hfq orthologue in cyanobacteria, establishing a new factor in the control of motility.

The chloroplast HSP70B-CDJ2-CGE1 chaperones catalyse assembly and disassembly of VIPP1 oligomers in Chlamydomonas.

The vesicle-inducing protein in plastids (VIPP1) is essential for the biogenesis of thylakoid membranes in cyanobacteria and plants. VIPP1 and its bacterial ancestor PspA form large homo-oligomeric rings of >1 MDa. We recently demonstrated that VIPP1 interacts with the chloroplast J-domain co-chaperone CDJ2 and its chaperone partner HSP70B, and hypothesized that the chaperones might be involved in the assembly and/or disassembly of VIPP1 oligomers. To test this hypothesis, we analysed the composition of VIPP1/chaperone complexes in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cell extracts and monitored effects of the chaperones on VIPP1 assembly states in vitro. We found that CGE1, the chloroplast GrpE homologue, is also part of complexes with HSP70B, CDJ2 and VIPP1. We observed that CDJ2-VIPP1 accumulated as low- and high-molecular-weight complexes in ATP-depleted cell extracts, but as intermediate-size complexes in extracts supplemented with ATP. This was consistent with a role for the chaperones in VIPP1 assembly and disassembly. Using purified proteins, we could demonstrate that the chaperones indeed facilitated both the assembly and disassembly of VIPP1 oligomers. Electron microscopy studies revealed that, in contrast to PspA, VIPP1 rings assembled into rod-shaped supercomplexes that were morphologically similar to microtubule-like structures observed earlier in various plastid types. VIPP1 rods, too, were disassembled by the chaperones, and chaperone-mediated rod disassembly also occurred when VIPP1 lacked an approximately 30-aa C-terminal extension present in VIPP1 homologues but absent in PspA. By regulating the assembly state of VIPP1, the chloroplast HSP70 chaperone system may play an important role in the maintenance/biogenesis of thylakoid membranes.

A new purple sulfur bacterium isolated from a littoral microbial mat, Thiorhodococcus drewsii sp. nov.

A new strain of purple sulfur bacterium was isolated from a marine microbial mat sampled in Great Sippewissett Salt Marsh at the Atlantic coast (Woods Hole, Mass., USA). Single cells of strain AZ1 were coccus-shaped, highly motile by means of a single flagellum, and did not contain gas vesicles. Intracellular membranes were of the vesicular type. However, additional concentric membrane structures were present. The photosynthetic pigments were bacteriochlorophyll a and carotenoids of the normal spirilloxanthin series, with rhodopin as the dominant carotenoid. Hydrogen sulfide (up to 11 mM), sulfur, thiosulfate, and molecular hydrogen were used as electron donors during anaerobic phototrophic growth. During growth on sulfide, elemental sulfur globules were transiently stored inside the cells. Strain AZ1 is much more versatile than most other Chromatiaceae with respect to electron donor and organic substrates. In the presence of CO(2), it is capable of assimilating C(1)-C(5) fatty acids, alcohols, and intermediates of the tricarboxylic acid cycle. Strain AZ1 could also grow photoorganotrophically with acetate as the sole photosynthetic electron donor. Chemotrophic growth in the dark under microoxic conditions was not detected. Optimum growth occurred at pH 6.5-6.7, 30-35 degrees C, > or =50 micro mol quanta m(-2) s(-1), and 2.4-2.6% NaCl. The DNA base composition was 64.5 mol% G+C. Comparative sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA gene confirmed that the isolate is a member of the family Chromatiaceae. Sequence similarity to the most closely related species, Thiorhodococcus minor DSMZ 11518(T), was 97.8%; however, the value for DNA-DNA hybridization between both strains was only 20%. Because of the low genetic similarity and since strain AZ1 physiologically differs considerably from all other members of the Chromatiaceae, including Trc. minor, the new isolate is described as a new species of the genus Thiorhodococcus, Thiorhodococcus drewsii sp. nov.

Evidence that cytochrome b559 mediates the oxidation of reduced plastoquinone in the dark.

The function of cytochrome b(559) in photosystem II (PSII) was investigated using a mutant created in tobacco in which the conserved phenylalanine at position 26 in the beta-subunit (PsbF) was changed to serine (Bock, R., Kössel, H., and Maliga, P. (1994) EMBO J. 13, 4623-4628). The mutant grew photoautotrophically, but the amount of PSII was reduced and the ultrastructure of the chloroplast was dramatically altered. Very few grana stacks were formed in the mutant. Although isolated PSII-enriched membrane fragments showed low PSII activity, electron paramagnetic resonance indicated the presence of functional PSII. Difference absorption spectra showed that the cytochrome b(559) contained heme. The plastoquinone pool was largely reduced in dark-adapted leaves of the mutant, based on chlorophyll fluorescence and thermoluminescence measurements. We therefore propose that cytochrome b(559) plays an important role in PSII by keeping the plastoquinone pool and thereby the acceptor side of PSII oxidized in the dark. Structural alterations as induced by the single Phe --> Ser point mutation in the transmembrane domain of PsbF evidently inhibit this function.