title: GTP enhances the degradation of the photosystem II D1 protein irrespective of its conformational heterogeneity at the Q(B) site.
abstract: The light exposure history and/or binding of different herbicides at the Q(B) site may induce heterogeneity of photosystem II acceptor side conformation that affects D1 protein degradation under photoinhibitory conditions. GTP was recently found to stimulate the D1 protein degradation of photoinactivated photosystem II (Spetea, C. , Hundal, T., Lohmann, F., and Andersson, B. (1999) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 96, 6547-6552). Here we report that GTP enhances the cleavage of the D1 protein D-E loop following exposure of thylakoid membranes to either high light, low light, or repetitive single turnover flashes but not to trypsin. GTP does not stimulate D1 protein degradation in the presence of herbicides known to affect the accessibility of the cleavage site to proteolysis. However, GTP stimulates degradation that can be induced even in darkness in some photosystem II conformers following binding of the PNO8 herbicide (Nakajima, Y., Yoshida, S., Inoue, Y., Yoneyama, K., and Ono, T. (1995) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1230, 38-44). Both the PNO8- and the light-induced primary cleavage of the D1 protein occur in the grana membrane domains. The subsequent migration of photosytem II containing the D1 protein fragments to the stroma domains for secondary proteolysis is light-activated. We conclude that the GTP effect is not confined to a specific photoinactivation pathway nor to the conformational state of the photosystem II acceptor side. Consequently, GTP does not interact with the site of D1 protein cleavage but rather enhances the activity of the endogenous proteolytic system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Arrhenius Laboratories for Natural Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm SE-106 91, Sweden.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Spetea
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Keren
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hundal
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Doan
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ohad
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Andersson
mesh_terms: D001665:Binding Sites; D006160:Guanosine Triphosphate / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006540:Herbicides / Q000494:pharmacology; D045322:Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D045332:Photosystem II Protein Complex; D010971:Plastoquinone / Q000378:metabolism*; D011487:Protein Conformation; D014357:Trypsin / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D006540:Herbicides; D045322:Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex Proteins; D045332:Photosystem II Protein Complex; D006160:Guanosine Triphosphate; D014357:Trypsin; D010971:Plastoquinone