title: Targeting proteins to diatom plastids involves transport through an endoplasmic reticulum.
abstract: Diatoms and related algae, in contrast to higher plants, have a xanthophyll-dominated light harvesting complex and an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) network surrounding the plastid. We have previously demonstrated that polypeptide constituents of the light harvesting complex from the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum are nuclear encoded and synthesized as higher molecular weight precursors in the cytoplasm. The amino-termini of the precursor proteins, as deduced from their gene sequences, have features of a signal peptide. Here, we show that the precursor polypeptides can be cotranslationally imported and processed by an in vitro microsomal membrane system, suggesting that cytoplasmically synthesized proteins require a signal peptide to traverse an ER before entering the plastid. These results are discussed in the context of plastid evolution.
authors.affiliation: Carnegie Institution of Washington, Stanford, CA 94305.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bhaya
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grossman
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001692:Biological Transport; D002338:Carotenoids / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism; D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D002736:Chloroplasts / Q000378:metabolism*; D004285:Dogs; D004721:Endoplasmic Reticulum / Q000378:metabolism*; D056890:Eukaryota / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000378:metabolism; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D021382:Protein Sorting Signals / Q000378:metabolism; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D024341:Xanthophylls
chemical_list: D011498:Protein Precursors; D021382:Protein Sorting Signals; D024341:Xanthophylls; C025164:fucoxanthin; D002734:Chlorophyll; D002338:Carotenoids