title: Effects of mutations at the two processing sites of the precursor for the small subunit of ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.
abstract: The role of the two processing sites in the precursor of the small subunit (SS) of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (pSS) of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was studied by introducing mutations at the cleavage sites for the stromal processing peptidases SPP-1 and SPP-2, which hydrolyse wild-type pSS (20.6 kDa) to an intermediate-sized product iSS (18.3 kDa) and to the mature SS (16.3 kDa), respectively. The mutations introduced into cDNA resulted in exchange of (a) two amino acids flanking processing site 1, or (b) one or (c) both amino acids flanking processing site 2. Mutation (a) prevented pSS from being processed at site 1 but not from cleavage at site 2. Mutation (c) abolished the action of SPP-2 but not SPP-1. When pSS with mutation (c) was imported into isolated chloroplasts, iSS accumulated while SS formation was abolished. However, mature SS was produced even in the absence of iSS synthesis (mutation a). Import of pSS bearing mutation (b), which only partially inhibited processing at the SPP-2 site, slowed the rate of SS formation down whereas iSS and some slightly smaller derivatives accumulated. These experiments suggested that in Chlamydomonas processing of pSS can occur in two steps, whereby the first step is facultative. The same three mutations were studied in vivo after transformation of SS-deficient C. reinhardtii T60-3 with mutated genomic DNA. Growth and photosynthesis was as in control transformants, except for the slower-growing transformants (mutation c) where no mature SS was immuno-detected. However, pSS fragments with molecular masses between those of iSS and SS were present even in the ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase holoenzyme.
authors.affiliation: Departement für Chemie und Biochemie, Universität Bern, Freiestrasse 3, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Cédric
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Invernizzi
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Imhof
authors.forename: Gabriela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Burkard
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schmid
authors.forename: Arminio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boschetti
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites; D015153:Blotting, Western; D016825:Chlamydomonas reinhardtii / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D002736:Chloroplasts / Q000378:metabolism; D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D008027:Light; D009154:Mutation; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism; D010957:Plasmids / Q000378:metabolism; D011485:Protein Binding; D012273:Ribulose-Bisphosphate Carboxylase / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004247:DNA; D012273:Ribulose-Bisphosphate Carboxylase; D010100:Oxygen