Dataset Information

Comparison of the light-harvesting networks of plant and cyanobacterial photosystem I.

ABSTRACT: With the availability of structural models for photosystem I (PSI) in cyanobacteria and plants it is possible to compare the excitation transfer networks in this ubiquitous photosystem from two domains of life separated by over one billion years of divergent evolution, thus providing an insight into the physical constraints that shape the networks' evolution. Structure-based modeling methods are used to examine the excitation transfer kinetics of the plant PSI-LHCI supercomplex. For this purpose an effective Hamiltonian is constructed that combines an existing cyanobacterial model for structurally conserved chlorophylls with spectral information for chlorophylls in the Lhca subunits. The plant PSI excitation migration network thus characterized is compared to its cyanobacterial counterpart investigated earlier. In agreement with observations, an average excitation transfer lifetime of approximately 49 ps is computed for the plant PSI-LHCI supercomplex with a corresponding quantum yield of 95%. The sensitivity of the results to chlorophyll site energy assignments is discussed. Lhca subunits are efficiently coupled to the PSI core via gap chlorophylls. In contrast to the chlorophylls in the vicinity of the reaction center, previously shown to optimize the quantum yield of the excitation transfer process, the orientational ordering of peripheral chlorophylls does not show such optimality. The finding suggests that after close packing of chlorophylls was achieved, constraints other than efficiency of the overall excitation transfer process precluded further evolution of pigment ordering.

SUBMITTER: Sener MK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1366667 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Comparison of the light-harvesting networks of plant and cyanobacterial photosystem I.

Sener Melih K MK Jolley Craig C Ben-Shem Adam A Fromme Petra P Nelson Nathan N Croce Roberta R Schulten Klaus K

Biophysical journal 20050701 3

With the availability of structural models for photosystem I (PSI) in cyanobacteria and plants it is possible to compare the excitation transfer networks in this ubiquitous photosystem from two domains of life separated by over one billion years of divergent evolution, thus providing an insight into the physical constraints that shape the networks' evolution. Structure-based modeling methods are used to examine the excitation transfer kinetics of the plant PSI-LHCI supercomplex. For this purpose ...[more]

PMID: 15994896

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Project description:UnlabelledThe genomes of many photosynthetic and nonphotosynthetic bacteria encode numerous phytochrome superfamily photoreceptors whose functions and interactions are largely unknown. Cyanobacterial genomes encode particularly large numbers of phytochrome superfamily members called cyanobacteriochromes. These have diverse light color-sensing abilities, and their functions and interactions are just beginning to be understood. One of the best characterized of these functions is the regulation of photosynthetic light-harvesting antenna composition in the cyanobacterium Fremyella diplosiphon by the cyanobacteriochrome RcaE in response to red and green light, a process known as chromatic acclimation. We have identified a new cyanobacteriochrome named DpxA that maximally senses teal (absorption maximum, 494 nm) and yellow (absorption maximum, 568 nm) light and represses the accumulation of a key light-harvesting protein called phycoerythrin, which is also regulated by RcaE during chromatic acclimation. Like RcaE, DpxA is a two-component system kinase, although these two photoreceptors can influence phycoerythrin expression through different signaling pathways. The peak responsiveness of DpxA to teal and yellow light provides highly refined color discrimination in the green spectral region, which provides important wavelengths for photosynthetic light harvesting in cyanobacteria. These results redefine chromatic acclimation in cyanobacteria and demonstrate that cyanobacteriochromes can coordinately impart sophisticated light color sensing across the visible spectrum to regulate important photosynthetic acclimation processes.ImportanceThe large number of cyanobacteriochrome photoreceptors encoded by cyanobacterial genomes suggests that these organisms are capable of extremely complex light color sensing and responsiveness, yet little is known about their functions and interactions. Our work uncovers previously undescribed cooperation between two photoreceptors with very different light color-sensing capabilities that coregulate an important photosynthetic light-harvesting protein in response to teal, green, yellow, and red light. Other cyanobacteriochromes that have been shown to interact functionally sense wavelengths of light that are close to each other, which makes it difficult to clearly identify their physiological roles in the cell. Our finding of two photoreceptors with broad light color-sensing capabilities and clearly defined physiological roles provides new insights into complex light color sensing and its regulation.

Dataset Information

Comparison of the light-harvesting networks of plant and cyanobacterial photosystem I.

Publications

Comparison of the light-harvesting networks of plant and cyanobacterial photosystem I.

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