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Phosphatidylglycerol depletion affects photosystem II activity in Synechococcus sp. PCC 7942 cells

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Abstract

The role of phosphatidylglycerol (PG) in photosynthetic membranes of cyanobacteria was analyzed in a Synechococcus sp. PCC 7942 mutant produced by inactivating its cdsA gene presumably encoding cytidine 5′-diphosphate-diacylglycerol synthase, a key enzyme in PG synthesis. In a medium supplemented with PG the Synechococcus sp. PCC 7942/ΔcdsA cells grew photoautotrophically. Depletion of PG in the medium resulted (a) in an arrest of cell growth and division, (b) in a suppression of O2 evolving activity, and (c) in a modification of Chl fluorescence induction curves. Two-dimensional PAGE showed that in the absence of PG (a) the amount of the PSI monomers increased at the expense of the PSI trimers and (b) PSII dimers were decomposed into monomers. [35S]methionine labeling confirmed that PG depletion did not block the de novo synthesis of PSII proteins but slowed down the assembly of the newly synthesized D1 protein into PSII core complexes. Retailoring of PG was observed during PG depletion: the exogenously added artificial dioleoyl PG was transformed into photosynthetically more essential PG derivatives. Concomitantly with a decrease in PG content, SQDG content increased, but it could not restore photosynthetic activity.

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Abbreviations

2D-BN:

Two-dimensional blue native gel electrophoresis

Chl:

Chlorophyll

CP43:

43 kDa chlorophyll-binding protein

DCMU:

3-(3, 4-dichlorophenyl)-1, 1′-dimethylurea

DGDG:

Digalactosyldiacylglycerol

OD:

Optical density

pBQ:

1, 4-p-benzoquinone

PG:

Phosphatidylglycerol

PQ:

Plastoquinone

QA :

Primary quinone electron acceptor of PS II

QB :

Secondary quinone electron acceptor of PS II

RC:

Reaction center

SQDG:

Sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerol

WT:

Wild type

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr. Ghada Ajlani, CEA Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France, for her advice in preparing the cdsA plasmid construction, as well as for reading and correcting the manuscript. We are grateful to Prof. Ferenc Solymosy for reading and correcting the manuscript. This work was supported by grants from the Hungarian Science Foundation (OTKA; grant nos. T 60109 and T 68692), by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (project no. MSM6007665808) and by the Czech Academy of Sciences (Institutional Research Concept no. AV0Z50200510, Czech–Hungarian bilateral research priority project and project IAA400200801).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Plant Biology, Biological Research Center, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, P. O. Box 521, 6701, Szeged, Hungary

    Balázs Bogos, Bettina Ughy, Ildikó Domonkos, Hajnalka Laczkó-Dobos, Leyla Abasova, Krisztián Cser, Imre Vass, Anna Sallai & Zoltán Gombos

  2. Institute of Microbiology, Academy of Sciences, Opatovický mlýn, 37981, Třeboň, Czech Republic

    Josef Komenda

  3. Institute of Physical Biology, University of South Bohemia, Zámek 136, 37333, Nové Hrady, Czech Republic

    Josef Komenda

  4. Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, Komaba, Tokyo, 153-8902, Japan

    Hajime Wada

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  1. Balázs Bogos
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Correspondence to Zoltán Gombos.

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Bogos, B., Ughy, B., Domonkos, I. et al. Phosphatidylglycerol depletion affects photosystem II activity in Synechococcus sp. PCC 7942 cells. Photosynth Res 103, 19–30 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-009-9497-0

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