Km. Warner et Gs. Bullerjahn, LIGHT-DEPENDENT TYROSINE PHOSPHORYLATION IN THE CYANOBACTERIUM PROCHLOROTHRIX-HOLLANDICA, Plant physiology, 105(2), 1994, pp. 629-633
A light-dependent tyrosine kinase activity is present in soluble extra
cts from the cyanobacterium Prochlorothrix hollandica. The substrate o
f this tyrosine kinase activity is a soluble 88-kD protein that is pho
sphorylated when cultures of P. hollandica are adapted to high-light c
onditions. This phosphoprotein was identified by probing western blots
of P-32-labeled soluble proteins from P. hollandica with an antibody
specific for phosphotyrosine. This specificity was confirmed by compet
ition experiments in which the antibody binding was abolished complete
ly in the presence of excess phosphotyrosine but not phosphoserine and
phosphothreonine. The kinetics of phosphorylation in vivo were determ
ined by probing western blots with this antibody. Within 1 h following
a switch from extended darkness to high light (200 mu mol photons m(-
2) s(-1)), the 88-kD protein was detectable upon India ink staining of
western blots. After 3 h, the antibody recognized the phosphorlyated
form of this polypeptide. Within 6 h of a downshift from high to low l
ight, the 88-kD protein was dephosphorylated. In vitro phosphorylation
studies also showed that cell extracts can phophorylate a tyrosine-co
ntaining artificial substrate; acid hydrolysis of both the artificial
substrate and the 88-kD protein showed that phosphorylation occurred e
xclusively on tyrosine residues. Finally, experiments with high-light-
adapted Synechococcus sp. PCC7942 suggest that a similar tyrosine phos
phorylation event occurs in a phycobilisome-containing cyanobacterium.