Determination of the concentration and the redox potential of chloroplast cytochrome 559

A pigment-protein complex consisting of D1 and D2 proteins, but depleted in the two lower molecular mass components of photosystem II, i.e. cytochrome b-559 and psbI gene product, has been isolated by octyl-β-D-glucopyranoside treatment of the purified photosystem II reaction center complex from spinach [(1987) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 84, 109-112], followed by separation by high performance liquid chromatography using a gel-permeation column (TSK G3000 SW). The isolated complex is photochemically active in the photoreduction of intrinsic pheophytin a under steady-state illumination, in the presence of dithionite and methyl viologen, and exhibits pigment stoichiometries similar to those in the untreated reaction center, indicating that the D1-D2 complex provides the site of primary photochemistry in photosystem II, as well as the principal binding sites of pigments in the reaction center.

A chlorophyll-protein complex, capable of photochemical water oxidation and consisting of only one extrinsic protein of 33 kDa in addition to six intrinsic proteins of the Photosystem II reaction center, has been isolated from spinach thylakoids by digitonin extraction, performed at pH 6.0, followed by chromatographic separations using DEAE-Toyopearl 650S as described briefly (Tang, X.S. and Satoh, K. (1985) FEBS Lett. 179, 60–64). The protein complex contained approx. 3–4 manganese atoms, 2 mol plastoquinone-9 and 2 mol low-potential forms of cytochrome b-559 heme per mol of the photoactive primary acceptor, Q_A. The oxygen evolution of the complex was highly stimulated by the presence of CaCl₂ and stabilized by glycerol; the typical rate of 400–500 μmol O₂ per mg Chl per h was attained with 2,5-dichlorobenzoquinone and potassium ferricyanide as electron acceptors in the presence of 50 mM CaCl₂. The protein complex exhibited a dark-stable EPR Signal II; the microwave power saturation profile of the signal was almost identical with that of oxygen-evolving membrane preparations. The multiline EPR signal ascribable to Kok's S₂-state was elicited in this protein complex by illumination at 200 K, as in membrane preparations. These results indicate that the basic machinery of photosynthetic water oxidation is preserved in an almost intact state in the isolated chlorophyll-protein complex.

The 37-kDa non-heme component in spinach cytochrome b-f complex prepared from EDTA-washed thylakoids [(1983) J. Biol. Chem. 258, 10348-10354] is shown to be ferredoxin-NADP⁺ oxidoreductase (EC 1.18.1.2) on the basis of immunoreactivity, amino acid analysis, and pattern of cleavage by cyanogen bromide. Strong binding of the reductase to the isolated cytochrome complex suggests this is an important site for its attachment to the thylakoid membrane in vivo.

The polypeptide composition of a Photosystem II (PS II) core complex from higher plant chloroplasts has been characterized by subjecting the isolated complex to sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Two polypeptides in the 40–50 kDa size class, attributed to the chlorophyll a-binding apoproteins of PS II, were resolved when the urea concentration in the SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was greater than 1 M. The two chlorophyll a-binding proteins were dissimilar in their primary structure based upon their different hydrolysis products on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis following papain treatment. The core complex contained three additional polypeptides. Two polypeptides in the 30–34 kDa size class were resolved when the urea concentration in the gel system was increased to greater than 4 M. One of the polypeptides in this size class was identified as the herbicide-binding protein from azido[¹⁴C]atrazine labeling studies. The herbicide-binding protein displayed an anomalous electrophoretic migration behavior in SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence or absence of urea; its apparent molecular weight decreased when the urea concentration increased. The fifth protein component of the core complex was attributed to cytochrome b-559 which was found to consist of the ascorbate- and dithionite-reducible forms in the samples prior to SDS solubilization.

Photosystem (PS) II-enriched particles or chloroplast fragments of the wild type and of three nonphotosynthetic mutants of Chlamydomonas reinhardii, which lack chloroplast cytochromes, were analyzed by lithium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis at 4°C to locate which chlorophyll complexes and which proteins are associated with cytochrome b-559. Two mutants, Fl 39 and Fl 50, have previously been shown to contain, respectively, 3.6- and 2.7-times less hydroquinone-reducible high-potential cytochrome b-559 than the wild type. They have impaired PS II functions. In the presence of ADRY agents: carbonyl cyanide p-trifluoromethoxyphenylhydrazone (FCCP), 2-(3-chloro-4-trifluoromethyl)anilino-3,5-dinitrothiophene (ANT 2p) or 2-(3,4,5-trichloro)-anilino-3,5-dinitrothiophene (ANT 2s), Fl 50 carried out photo-oxidation of cytochrome b-559 with half the amplitude of that of the wild type. No photo-oxidation was observed with Fl 39. We show here that in both these mutants chlorophyll-protein complexes CP III, CP IV and CP V were missing. There were traces of the corresponding apoproteins (45 000, 42 000 and 33 000 daltons, respectively) in Fl 50 but none in Fl 39. In addition, a 19 000 dalton protein was missing in Fl 39 and present in a very small amount in Fl 50. In another mutant, Fl 9, previously characterized as lacking both cytochromes b-563 and c-553 with a normal cytochrome b-559 content, CP III-CP V and the 19 000 dalton protein were detected. CP I (110 000 daltons) and CP II (24 000 daltons) were present in all strains. These observations confirmed the close relationship between deficiencies in cytochrome b-559, lack of CP III and CP IV and anomalies in the photochemistry of PS II. They provided additional evidence that CP V and a 19 000 dalton protein are also involved in this PS II photochemistry. Staining of the gels with 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine and H₂O₂ allowed us to distinguish clearly four heme protein bands having peroxidase activity. Three of these bands (45 000, 42 000 and 19 000 daltons), which were shown in wild-type, Fl 39 and Fl 50 preparations but not in Fl 9, appeared related to cytochromes b-563 and c-553. The fourth heme protein (14 000 daltons) occurred in wild type and Fl 9 but was missing in Fl 39 and Fl 50; it appeared related to cytochrome b-559.