title: Role of the H protein in assembly of the photochemical reaction center and intracytoplasmic membrane in Rhodospirillum rubrum.
abstract: Rhodospirillum rubrum is a model for the study of membrane formation. Under conditions of oxygen limitation, this facultatively phototrophic bacterium forms an intracytoplasmic membrane that houses the photochemical apparatus. This apparatus consists of two pigment-protein complexes, the light-harvesting antenna (LH) and photochemical reaction center (RC). The proteins of the photochemical components are encoded by the puf operon (LHalpha, LHbeta, RC-L, and RC-M) and by puhA (RC-H). R. rubrum puf interposon mutants do not form intracytoplasmic membranes and are phototrophically incompetent. The puh region was cloned, and DNA sequence determination identified open reading frames bchL and bchM and part of bchH; bchHLM encode enzymes of bacteriochlorophyll biosynthesis. A puhA/G115 interposon mutant was constructed and found to be incapable of phototrophic growth and impaired in intracytoplasmic membrane formation. Comparison of properties of the wild-type and the mutated and complemented strains suggests a model for membrane protein assembly. This model proposes that RC-H is required as a foundation protein for assembly of the RC and highly developed intracytoplasmic membrane. In complemented strains, expression of puh occurred under semiaerobic conditions, thus providing the basis for the development of an expression vector. The puhA gene alone was sufficient to restore phototrophic growth provided that recombination occurred.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, and Great Lakes WATER Institute, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201, USA.
authors.forename: Y S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Brantner
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tsapin
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Collins
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001429:Bacteriochlorophylls / Q000378:metabolism; D002455:Cell Division / Q000235:genetics / Q000528:radiation effects; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D007425:Intracellular Membranes / Q000378:metabolism*; D008027:Light; D045342:Light-Harvesting Protein Complexes; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008954:Models, Biological; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D045322:Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D012247:Rhodospirillum rubrum / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013053:Spectrophotometry
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001429:Bacteriochlorophylls; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D045342:Light-Harvesting Protein Complexes; D045322:Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex Proteins; C098850:PuhA protein, Rhodobacter