SITE-DIRECTED MUTAGENESIS OF CONSERVED HISTIDINES IN THE HELIX-VIII DOMAIN OF PSAB IMPAIRS ASSEMBLY OF THE PHOTOSYSTEM-I REACTION-CENTER WITHOUT ALTERING SPECTROSCOPIC CHARACTERISTICS OF P-700
Ly. Cui et al., SITE-DIRECTED MUTAGENESIS OF CONSERVED HISTIDINES IN THE HELIX-VIII DOMAIN OF PSAB IMPAIRS ASSEMBLY OF THE PHOTOSYSTEM-I REACTION-CENTER WITHOUT ALTERING SPECTROSCOPIC CHARACTERISTICS OF P-700, Biochemistry, 34(5), 1995, pp. 1549-1558
The chloroplast psaB gene encodes one of the polypeptides of the photo
system I reaction center heterodimer that coordinates the electron tra
nsfer components P-700, A(0), and A(1). Histidine residues in the most
highly conserved region of the PsaB protein are predicted to coordina
te the P-700 reaction center chlorophyll(s) and the initial electron a
cceptor, A(0). Oligonucleotide-mediated site-directed mutagenesis and
chloroplast transformation of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii have been used
to determine the importance of these conserved histidines in photosys
tem I reaction center biogenesis and function. It is demonstrated that
these histidine residues are essential for stable accumulation of the
photosystem I reaction center. Protein pulse-labeling shows that chan
ging the histidine residues impairs a post-translational step in react
ion center assembly. Photosystem I complexes from the mutants have bee
n characterized by Electron Nuclear Double Resonance and Electron Spin
Echo Envelope Modulation spectroscopy to determine the impact of any
mutations on P-700+. In all cases we determine that spectroscopic char
acteristics of P-700+ remain unchanged. The implications of these resu
lts to current models of the photosystem I reaction center and related
bacterial reaction centers are discussed.