Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Pigment-protein diversity in chlorosomes of green phototrophic bacteria

  • Original Papers
  • Published:
Archives of Microbiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In order to compare and contrast the structure and function of the light-harvesting antennae (i.e. chlorosomes) of green bacteria, a procedure for isolating and characterizing them from green sulfur bacteria was developed. The chlorosomes from Chlorobium species with bacteriochlorophyll (Bchl) c or e were isolated by a two step sucrose density centrifugation in the presence of 2% miranol, a mild detergent, and 2 M sodium thiocyanate (NaSCN). Purified chlorosomes from two green sulfur bacteria, Chlorobium phaeobacteroides and Chlorobium tepidum, and the filamentous green bacterium Chloroflexus aurantiacus were analysed by spectrophotometry, SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and immunological procedures. Isolated chlorosomes from both Chlorobium species contain only two electrophoretically separable protein components with approximate molecular masses of 5–7.5 and 34.5 kDa. In addition, they have a major light-harvesting antenna pigment (Bchl c or e), a minor Bchl a species, and carotenoids. Chloroflexus aurantiacus antisera for the three major chlorosome proteins (5.6, 11, and 18 kDa), and the reaction center proteins (24 and 24.5 kDa) did not cross react with any Chlorobium proteins analyzed in this study. Chlorobium limicola f. thiosulfatophilum antisera against the 7.5 kDa chlorosome protein cross reacted strongly with the 5–7.5 kDa protein from Cb. tepidum, weakly with the Cb. phaeobacteroides protein, but not at all to the 5.6 kDa chlorosome protein from Cf. aurantiacus. These results provide further evidence for the evolutionary divergence of the chlorosomes from green phototrophic bacteria (e.g., Chlorobium-type and Chloroflexus-type).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

Cb.:

Chlorobium

Cf.:

Chloroflexus

Bchl.:

bacteriochlorophyll

NaSCN:

sodium thiocyanate

SDS-PAGE:

sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis

References

  • Betti JA, Blankenship RE, Natarajan LV, Dickinson LC, Fuller RC (1982) Antenna organization and evidence for the function of a new antenna pigment species in the green bacterium Chloroflexus aurantiacus. Biochim Biophys Acta 680:194–201

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Blankenship RE, Brune DC, Freeman JM, King GH, McManus JH, Nozawa T, Trost JT, Wittmershaus BP (1988) Energy trapping and electron transfer in Chloroflexus aurantiacus. In: Olson JM, Ormerod JG, Amesz J, Stackebrandt E, Trüper HG (eds) Green photosynthetic bacteria. Plenum Press, New York, pp 57–68

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Brune DC, Tsunenori N, Blankenship RE (1987) Antenna organization in green photosynthetic bacteria 1. Oligomeric bacteriochlorophyll c as a model for the 740 nm absorbing bacteriochlorophyll c in Chloroflexus aurantiacus chlorosomes. Biochemistry 26:8644–8651

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Burr FA, Burr B (1983) Slab gel system for the resolution of oligopeptides below molecular weight of 10,000. Methods Enzymol 96:239–245

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Castenholz RW, Pierson BK (1981) Isolation of members of the family Chloroflexaceae. In: Starr MP, Stolp H, Trüper HG, Balows A, Schlegel HG (eds) The prokaryotes. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 290–298

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Feick RG, Fuller RC (1984) Topography of the photosynthetic apparatus of Chloroflexus aurantiacus. Biochemistry 23:3693–3700

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Feick RG, Fitzpatrick M, Fuller RC (1982) Isolation and characterization of cytoplasmic membranes and chlorosomes from the green bacterium chloroflexus aurantiacus. J Bacteriol 150: 105–115

    Google Scholar 

  • Fenna RE, Matthews BW (1975) Chlorophyll arrangement in a bacteriochlorophyll protein from Chlorobium limicola. Nature (London) 258:573–577

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fuller RC, Redlinger TE (1985) Light and oxygen regulation of the development of the photosynthestic apparatus in Chloroflexus. In: Steinbeck KE, Bonitz S, Arntzen CJ, Bogorad I (eds) Molecular biology of the photosynthetic apparatus. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, pp 155–162

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerola PD, Olson JM (1986) a new bacteriochlorophyll a-protein complex associated with chlorosomes of green sulfur bacteria. Biochim Biophys Acta 848:69–76

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gerola PD, Hojrup P, Knudsen J, Roepstorff P, Olson JM (1988) The bacteriochlorophyll c-binding protein from chlorosomes of Chlorobium limicola f. thiosulfatophilum. In: Olson JM, Ormerod JG, Amesz J, Stackebrandt E, Trüper HG (eds) Green photosynthetic bacteria. Plenum Press, New York, pp 43–52

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Gibson J, Ludwig W, Stackebrandt E, Woese CR (1985) The phylogeny of th green photosynthetic bacteria: absence of a close relationship between Chlorobium and Chloroflexus. System Appl Microbiol 6:152–156

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gloe A, Pfennig N, Brochmann HJr, Trowitzsch W (1975) A new bacteriochlorophyll from brown-colored Chlorobiaceae. Arch Microbiol 138:96–101

    Google Scholar 

  • Laemmli UK (1970) Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature (London) 227:680–685

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Matthews BW, Fenna RE, Boglonesi MC, Schmidt MF, Olson JM (1979) Structure of a bacteriochlorophyll a-protein from the green photosynthetic bacterium Prosthecochloris aestuarii. J Mol Biol 131:259–268

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Olson JM (1978) Bacteriochlorophyll a-proteins from green bacteria. In: Clayton RK, Sistrom WR (eds) The photosynthetic bacteria. Plenum Press, New York, pp 161–178

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson JM (1980) Chlorophyll organization in green photosynthetic bacteria. Biochim Biophys Acta 594:33–51

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Olson JM (1988) Introduction. In: Olson JM, Ormerrod JG, Amesz J, Stackebrandt E, Trüper HG (eds) The green photosynthetic bacteria. Plenum Press, New York, pp 1–2

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Olson JM, Shaw EK, Englberger FM (1976) Comparison of bacteriochlorophyll a-proteins from two green bacteria. Biochem J 159:769–779

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Olson JM, Brune DC, Gerola PD (1990) Organization of chlorophyll and proteins in chlorosomes. In: Drews G, Dawson E (eds) Molecular biology of membrane bound complexes in phototrophic bacteria. Plenum Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Oyaizu H, Debrunner-Vossbrinck B, Mandelco L, Studier JA, Woese CR (1987) The green non-sulfur bacteria: a depp branching in the eubacterial line of descent. System Appl Microbiol 9:47–53

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pfennig N, Trüper HG (1981) Isolation of members of the families Chromatiaceae and Chlorobiaceae. In: Starr MP, Stolp H, Trüper HG, Balows A, Schlegel HG (eds) The prokaryotes. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 279–284

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Pierson BK, Castenholz RW (1974) A phototrophic gliding filamentous bacterium of hot springs Chloroflexus aurantiacus; Gen. and sp. nov. Arch Microbiol 110:5–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Puchova NN, Golenko VM (1982) A new green sulfur bacterium, Chlorobium chlorovibroides nov. sp. Mikrobiologiya (Engl translation) 51:118–124

    Google Scholar 

  • Redlinger TE, Fuller RC (1985) Protein processing as a regulatory mechanism in the synthesis of the photosynthetic bacterium Chloroflexus. Arch Microbiol 141:344–347

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schägger H, Jagow Gvon (1987) Tricine-sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis for the separation of proteins in the range from 1 to 100 kDa. Anal Biochem 166:368–379

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt K (1980) A comparative study on the composition of chlorosomes (Chlorobium vesicles) and cytoplasmic membranes from Chloroflexus aurantiacus strain Ok-70-fl and Chlorobium limicola f. thiosulfatophilum strain 6230. Arch Microbiol 124:21–31

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Staehlin AL, Golecki JR, Drews R (1980) Supramolecular organization of chlorosomes (Chlorobium vesicles) and of their membrane attachment sites in Chlorobium limicola. Biochim Biophys Acta 589:30–45

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Staehlin AL, Golecki JR, Fuller RC, Drews G (1978) Characterization of the supermolecular architecture of chlorosomes (Chlorobium type vesicles) in freeze fractured cells of Chloroflexus aurantiacus. Arch Microbiol 119:269–277

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sybesma C, Olson JM (1964) Evidence for a reaction center P840 in the green photosynthetic bacterium Chloropseudomonas ethylicum. Biochim Biophys Acta 75:439–441

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trüper HG (1987) Phototrophic bacteria (an incoherent group of prokaryotes). A taxonomic versus phylogenitic survey. Microbiologia SEM 3:71–89

    Google Scholar 

  • Trüper HG, Pfennig N (1981) Characterization and identification of anoxygenic photosynthetic bacteria. In: Starr MP, Stolp H, Trüper HG, Balows A, Schlegel HG (eds) The prokaryotes. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 299–312

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Wagner-Huber R, Brunisholz R, Frank G, Zuber H (1988) The bacteriochlorophyll c/e-binding polypeptides from chlorosomes of green photosynthetic bacteria. FEBS Lett 239:8–12

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wechsler T, Suter F, Fuller RC, Zuber H (1985) The complete amino acid sequence of the bacteriochlorophyll c binding polypeptide from chlorosomes of the green photosynthetic bacterium Chloroflexus aurantiacus. FEBS Lett 181:173–178

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Woese C (1988) Bacterial evolution. Microbiol Rev 51:221–271

    Google Scholar 

  • Wullink W, Bruggen EFJvan (1988) Structural studies on chlorosomes from Prosthecochloris aestuarii. In: Olson JM, Ormerrod JG, Amesz J, Stackebrandt E, Trüper HG (eds) Green photosynthetic bacteria. Plenum Press, New York, pp 3–14

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, University of Massachusetts, 01003, Amherst, MA, USA

    John F. Stolz, R. Clinton Fuller & Thomas E. Redlinger

Authors
  1. John F. Stolz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. R. Clinton Fuller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Thomas E. Redlinger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Stolz, J.F., Fuller, R.C. & Redlinger, T.E. Pigment-protein diversity in chlorosomes of green phototrophic bacteria. Arch. Microbiol. 154, 422–427 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00245221

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00245221

Key words

Search

Navigation