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Photoinduced electron transfer and cytochrome content in obligate aerobic phototrophic bacteria from genera Erythromicrobium, Sandaracinobacter, Erythromonas, Roseococcus and Erythrobacter

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Abstract

The photosynthetic apparatus and the electron carriers of seven species of five different genera of obligate aerobic phototrophic bacteria have been characterized by biochemical and biophysical techniques. A tetrahemic reaction center (RC) bound cytochrome (cyt) was found in Erythromonas (Em.) ursincola, Sandaracinobacter (S.) sibiricus and Roseococcus (R.) thiosulfatophilus, but not in Erythromicrobium (E.) ezovicum, Erythromicrobium ramosum, Erythromicrobium hydrolyticum and Erythrobacter (Eb.) litoralis. In none of the studied species, photochemical activity was observed under anaerobic conditions. Under aerobic conditions, the photoinduced cyclic electron transfer involves a soluble c-type cyt for the seven species. The cyt content of soluble and membrane fractions is highly dependent upon the species. The Erythromicrobium species (E. ezovicum, E. ramosum and E. hydrolyticum) contains a major soluble cyt while the other species possess several soluble cyts, up to four in the case of Eb. litoralis. These cyts have been characterized in terms of midpoint potential and apparent molecular mass. The presence of cyt bc1 complexes has been clearly detected in Eb. litoralis, E. hydrolyticum, E. ezovicum and E. ramosum. These last three species also contain a high midpoint potential (350 mV) membrane-bound cyt c of unknown function.

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  1. Vladimir Yurkov

    Present address: Department of Microbiology & Immunology, #, The University of British Columbia, 300-6174, University Boulevard, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T1Z3

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Bioénergétique Cellulaire, CEA/Cadarache, DEVM, 13108, St. Paul lez Durance, Cedex, France

    Vladimir Yurkov & André Verméglio

  2. Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Protéines, Centre de Génétique Moléculaire, CNRS, 91198, Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France

    Barbara Schoepp

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  1. Vladimir Yurkov
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Yurkov, V., Schoepp, B. & Verméglio, A. Photoinduced electron transfer and cytochrome content in obligate aerobic phototrophic bacteria from genera Erythromicrobium, Sandaracinobacter, Erythromonas, Roseococcus and Erythrobacter. Photosynthesis Research 57, 117–128 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006097120530

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