Isolation of the elusive supercomplex that drives cyclic electron flow in photosynthesis.

Photosynthetic light reactions establish electron flow in the chloroplast's thylakoid membranes, leading to the production of the ATP and NADPH that participate in carbon fixation. Two modes of electron flow exist-linear electron flow (LEF) from water to NADP(+) via photosystem (PS) II and PSI in series and cyclic electron flow (CEF) around PSI (ref. 2). Although CEF is essential for satisfying the varying demand for ATP, the exact molecule(s) and operational site are as yet unclear. In the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, the electron flow shifts from LEF to CEF on preferential excitation of PSII (ref. 3), which is brought about by an energy balancing mechanism between PSII and PSI (state transitions). Here, we isolated a protein supercomplex composed of PSI with its own light-harvesting complex (LHCI), the PSII light-harvesting complex (LHCII), the cytochrome b(6)f complex (Cyt bf), ferredoxin (Fd)-NADPH oxidoreductase (FNR), and the integral membrane protein PGRL1 (ref. 5) from C. reinhardtii cells under PSII-favouring conditions. Spectroscopic analyses indicated that on illumination, reducing equivalents from downstream of PSI were transferred to Cyt bf, whereas oxidised PSI was re-reduced by reducing equivalents from Cyt bf, indicating that this supercomplex is engaged in CEF (Supplementary Fig. 1). Thus, formation and dissociation of the PSI-LHCI-LHCII-FNR-Cyt bf-PGRL1 supercomplex not only controlled the energy balance of the two photosystems, but also switched the mode of photosynthetic electron flow.

Biochemical characterization of photosystem I-associated light-harvesting complexes I and II isolated from state 2 cells of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.

Two photosystems, PSI and PSII, drive electron transfer in series for oxygenic photosynthesis using light energy. To balance the activity of the two photosystems under varying light conditions, mobile antenna complexes, light-harvesting complex IIs (LHCIIs), shuttle between the two photosystems during state transitions. PSI forms a complex consisting of PSI core and its peripheral light-harvesting complex (LHCI) in plants and algae. In a previous study, we isolated a PSI-LHCI-LHCII supercomplex containing both LHCI and LHCII from state 2 cells of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. In the present study, we isolated a PSI-LHCI-LHCII supercomplex associating with more LHCII complexes under a further optimized protocol. We determined its antenna size by three independent methods and revealed that the associated LHCIIs increased the antenna size by about 70 Chls and transferred light energy to the PSI core. Uniform labeling of total cellular proteins with (14)C indicated that the PSI-LHCI-LHCII supercomplex contains 1.85 copies of LhcbM5 and CP29 and 1.29 copies of CP26. PSI-LHCI-LHCII also stably bound 0.4 copy of ferredoxin-NADP(+) oxidoreductase (FNR) that catalyzes light-induced electron transfer from PSI to NADP(+) in the presence of ferredoxin. We discuss the possible organization of these LHCIIs in the PSI-LHCI-LHCII supercomplex.

Mitochondrial nucleoids from the yeast Candida parapsilosis: expansion of the repertoire of proteins associated with mitochondrial DNA.

Molecules of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) are packed into nucleic acid-protein complexes termed mitochondrial nucleoids (mt-nucleoids). In this study, we analysed mt-nucleoids of the yeast Candida parapsilosis, which harbours a linear form of the mitochondrial genome. To identify conserved as well as specific features of mt-nucleoids in this species, we employed two strategies for analysis of their components. First, we investigated the protein composition of mt-nucleoids isolated from C. parapsilosis mitochondria, determined N-terminal amino acid sequences of 14 proteins associated with the mt-nucleoids and identified corresponding genes. Next, we complemented the list of mt-nucleoid components with additional candidates identified in the complete genome sequence of C. parapsilosis as homologues of Saccharomyces cerevisiae mt-nucleoid proteins. Our approach revealed several known mt-nucleoid proteins as well as additional components that expand the repertoire of proteins associated with these cytological structures. In particular, we identified and purified the protein Gcf1, which is abundant in the mt-nucleoids and exhibits structural features in common with the mtDNA packaging protein Abf2 from S. cerevisiae. We demonstrate that Gcf1p co-localizes with mtDNA, has DNA-binding activity in vitro, and is able to stabilize mtDNA in the S. cerevisiae Deltaabf2 mutant, all of which points to a role in the maintenance of the C. parapsilosis mitochondrial genome. Importantly, in contrast to Abf2p, in silico analysis of Gcf1p predicted the presence of a coiled-coil domain and a single high-mobility group (HMG) box, suggesting that it represents a novel type of mitochondrial HMG protein.