Abstract
Phycobilisomes of the cyanobacterium Synechococcus 6301 contain the phycobiliproteins phycocyanin, allophycocyanin, and allophycocyanin B, and four major non pigmented polypeptides of 75, 33, 30, and 27 kdaltons. The molar ratio of phycocyanin to allophycocyanin in wild type phycobilisomes can be varied over about a two-fold range by alterations in culture conditions with parallel changes in the amounts of the 33 and 30 kdalton polypeptides whereas the levels of the 27 and 75 kdalton polypeptides do not vary. Two nitrosoguanidine-induced mutants, AN112 and AN135, produce abnormally small phycobilisomes, containing only 35 and 50% of the wild type level of phycocyanin. AN135 phycobilisomes contain less 33 kdalton polypeptide than wild type and the 30 kdalton polypeptide is only detected in phycobilisomes from cultures grown under conditions favoring high levels of phycocyanin. AN112 lacks both the 30 and 33 kdalton polypeptides and produces phycobilisomes of constant size and composition, independent of growth conditions. Both mutant phycobilisomes have wild type levels of 27 and 75 kdalton polypeptides relative to allophycocyanin and have normal energy transfer properties. These results indicate that modulation of phycobilisome size involves concurrent regulation of the levels of phycocyanin and of both the 30 and 33 kdalton polypeptides with no change in the composition of the allophycocyanin-containing core.
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Abbreviations
- LP cells:
-
cells grown under conditions favoring low p phycobiliprotein levels
- HP cells:
-
cells grown under conditions favoring high phycobiliprotein levels
- SDS:
-
sodium dodecylsulfate
- EDTA:
-
ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid
- NaK-PO4 :
-
NaH2PO4 titrated with K2HPO4 to a given pH
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Yamanaka, G., Glazer, A.N. Dynamic aspects of phycobilisome structure: Modulation of phycocyanin content of Synechococcus phycobilisomes. Arch. Microbiol. 130, 23–30 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00527067
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00527067