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The structure of cyanobacterial phycobilisomes: a model

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Abstract

Phycobilisomes, supramolecular complexes of water-soluble accessory pigments, serve as the major light-harvesting antennae in cyanobacteria and red algae. Regular arrays of these organelles are found on the surface of the thylakoid membranes of these organisms. In the present study, the hemi-discoidal phycobilisomes of several species of cyanobacteria were examined in thin sections of cells and by negative staining after isolation and fixation. Their fundamental structures were found to be the same. Isolated phycobilisomes possessed a triangular core assembled from three stacks of disc-shaped subunits. Each stack contained two discs which were ∼12 nm in diameter and ∼6–7 nm thick. Each of these discs was probably subdivided into halves ∼3–3.5 nm thick. Radiating from each of two sides of the triangular core were three rods ∼12 nm in diameter. Each rod consisted of stacks of 2 to 6 disc-shaped subunits ∼6 nm thick. These discs were subdivided into halves ∼3 nm thick.

The average number of discs of ∼6 nm thickness forming the peripheral rods varied among the strains studied. For certain chromatically adapting strains, the average rod length was dependent upon the wavelength of light to which cells were exposed during growth. Analyses of phycobilisomes by spectroscopic techniques, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and electron microscopy were compared. These analyses suggested that the triangular core was composed of allophycocyanin and that the peripheral rods contained phycocyanin and phycoerythrin (when present). A detailed model of the hemi-discoidal phycobilisome is proposed. This model can account for many aspects of phycobiliprotein assembly and energy transfer.

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Abbreviations

PBS:

phycobilisome(s)

PBP:

phycobiliprotein(s)

AP:

allophycocyanin

PC:

phycocyanin

PE:

phycoerythrin

PEC:

phycoerythrocyanin

AP-B:

allophycocyanin B

C-:

cyanobacterial

R-:

rhodophytan

B-:

Bangiophycean

SDS:

sodium dodecyl sulfate

LPP:

Lyngbya-Plectonema-Phormidium group

Na-KPO4 buffers:

NaH2PO4 titrated with a solution of KH2PO4 of equivalent molarity to a given pH

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Author notes

  1. Donald A. Bryant

    Present address: Division of Biological Sciences, Section of Botany, Genetics, and Development, Cornell University, 14853, Ithaca, New York, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unité de Physiologie Microbienne, Département de Biochimie et Génétique Microbienne, C.N.R.S.-E.R.A. 398, Institut Pasteur, 28, rue du Docteur Roux, F-75015, Paris, France

    Donald A. Bryant, Gérard Guglielmi, Nicole Tandeau de Marsac, Anne-Marie Castets & Germaine Cohen-Bazire

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  1. Donald A. Bryant
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  2. Gérard Guglielmi
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Bryant, D.A., Guglielmi, G., de Marsac, N.T. et al. The structure of cyanobacterial phycobilisomes: a model. Arch. Microbiol. 123, 113–127 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00446810

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