A soluble carotenoid protein involved in phycobilisome-related energy dissipation in cyanobacteria.
Photosynthetic organisms have developed multiple protective mechanisms to survive under high-light conditions. In plants, one of these mechanisms is the thermal dissipation of excitation energy in the membrane-bound chlorophyll antenna of photosystem II. The question of whether or not cyanobacteria, the progenitor of the chloroplast, have an equivalent photoprotective mechanism has long been unanswered. Recently, however, evidence was presented for the possible existence of a mechanism dissipating excess absorbed energy in the phycobilisome, the extramembrane antenna of cyanobacteria. Here, we demonstrate that this photoprotective mechanism, characterized by blue light-induced fluorescence quenching, is indeed phycobilisome-related and that a soluble carotenoid binding protein, ORANGE CAROTENOID PROTEIN (OCP), encoded by the slr1963 gene in Synechocystis PCC 6803, plays an essential role in this process. Blue light is unable to quench fluorescence in the absence of phycobilisomes or OCP. The fluorescence quenching is not DeltapH-dependent, and it can be induced in the absence of the reaction center II or the chlorophyll antenna, CP43 and CP47. Our data suggest that OCP, which strongly interacts with the thylakoids, acts as both the photoreceptor and the mediator of the reduction of the amount of energy transferred from the phycobilisomes to the photosystems. These are novel roles for a soluble carotenoid protein.
Unité de Recherche Associée 2096, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Service de Bioénergétique, 91191 Gif sur Yvette, France.
Adjélé
A
Wilson
Ghada
G
Ajlani
Jean-Marc
JM
Verbavatz
Imre
I
Vass
Cheryl A
CA
Kerfeld
Diana
D
Kirilovsky
D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D001483:Base Sequence; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000378:metabolism*; D017931:DNA Primers; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D007700:Kinetics; D008027:Light; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis; D045524:Phycobilisomes / Q000378:metabolism*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D015183:Restriction Mapping
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D017931:DNA Primers; D045524:Phycobilisomes; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins