title: Cyanobacterial lactate oxidases serve as essential partners in N2 fixation and evolved into photorespiratory glycolate oxidases in plants.
abstract: Glycolate oxidase (GOX) is an essential enzyme involved in photorespiratory metabolism in plants. In cyanobacteria and green algae, the corresponding reaction is catalyzed by glycolate dehydrogenases (GlcD). The genomes of N(2)-fixing cyanobacteria, such as Nostoc PCC 7120 and green algae, appear to harbor genes for both GlcD and GOX proteins. The GOX-like proteins from Nostoc (No-LOX) and from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii showed high L-lactate oxidase (LOX) and low GOX activities, whereas glycolate was the preferred substrate of the phylogenetically related At-GOX2 from Arabidopsis thaliana. Changing the active site of No-LOX to that of At-GOX2 by site-specific mutagenesis reversed the LOX/GOX activity ratio of No-LOX. Despite its low GOX activity, No-LOX overexpression decreased the accumulation of toxic glycolate in a cyanobacterial photorespiratory mutant and restored its ability to grow in air. A LOX-deficient Nostoc mutant grew normally in nitrate-containing medium but died under N(2)-fixing conditions. Cultivation under low oxygen rescued this lethal phenotype, indicating that N(2) fixation was more sensitive to O(2) in the Δlox Nostoc mutant than in the wild type. We propose that LOX primarily serves as an O(2)-scavenging enzyme to protect nitrogenase in extant N(2)-fixing cyanobacteria, whereas in plants it has evolved into GOX, responsible for glycolate oxidation during photorespiration.
authors.affiliation: University of Rostock, Plant Physiology Department, 18051 Rostock, Germany.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hackenberg
authors.forename: Ramona
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kern
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hüge
authors.forename: Lucas J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Stal
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tsuji
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kopka
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shiraiwa
authors.forename: Hermann
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bauwe
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hagemann
mesh_terms: D000429:Alcohol Oxidoreductases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D019069:Cell Respiration; D016825:Chlamydomonas reinhardtii / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects; D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects; D006016:Glycolates / Q000378:metabolism; D006899:Mixed Function Oxygenases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D009586:Nitrogen Fixation / Q000502:physiology; D009591:Nitrogenase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D046937:Nostoc / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism; D010802:Phylogeny; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D006016:Glycolates; D010940:Plant Proteins; D006899:Mixed Function Oxygenases; D000429:Alcohol Oxidoreductases; C020821:glycollate oxidase; C021497:lactate 2-monooxygenase; D009591:Nitrogenase; D010100:Oxygen