title: Chloroplast biogenesis 89: development of analytical tools for probing the biosynthetic topography of photosynthetic membranes by determination of resonance excitation energy transfer distances separating metabolic tetrapyrrole donors from chlorophyll a acceptors.
abstract: The thorough understanding of photosynthetic membrane assembly requires a deeper knowledge of the coordination and regulation of the chlorophyll (Chl) and thylakoid apoprotein biosynthetic pathways. As a working hypothesis we have recently proposed three different Chl-thylakoid apoprotein biosynthesis models: a single-branched Chl biosynthetic pathway (SBP)-single location model, a SBP-multilocation model, and a multibranched Chl biosynthetic pathway (MBP)-sublocation model. The detection of resonance excitation energy transfer between tetrapyrrole precursors of Chl, and several Chl-protein complexes, has made it possible to test the validity of the proposed Chl-thylakoid apoprotein biosynthesis models by resonance excitation energy transfer determinations. In this work, resonance excitation energy transfer techniques that allow the determination of distances separating tetrapyrrole donors from Chl-protein acceptors in green plants by using readily available electronic spectroscopic instrumentation are developed. It is concluded that the calculated distances are compatible with the MBP-sublocation model and incompatible with the operation of the SBP-single location Chl-protein biosynthesis model.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Plant Biochemistry and Photobiology, NRES, 240 A, ERML, 1201 West Gregory Avenue, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Karen J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Kopetz
authors.forename: Vladimir L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Kolossov
authors.forename: Constantin A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Rebeiz
mesh_terms: D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000378:metabolism*; D000077194:Chlorophyll A; D018553:Cucumis sativus / Q000378:metabolism; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D001467:Hordeum / Q000378:metabolism; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D013696:Temperature; D045725:Tetrapyrroles / Q000378:metabolism*; D020524:Thylakoids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D045725:Tetrapyrroles; D002734:Chlorophyll; D000077194:Chlorophyll A