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Puf operon sequences and inferred structures of light-harvesting complexes of three closely related Chromatiaceae exhibiting different absorption characteristics

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Abstract

Whole cells of the purple sulfur bacterium strain 970 exhibit an unusual absorption peak at 963 nm. Its closest relatives, Thiorhodovibrio (Trv.) winogradskyi DSM6702T and strain 06511 display a bacteriochlorophyll (BChl) a absorption peak at 867 nm that is characteristic for most light-harvesting complexes 1 (LHC1) of proteobacteria. The puf operons encoding the LHC1 and reaction center proteins were amplified, cloned, and sequenced, and for the Trv. winogradskyi, strains show the common pufBALMC gene arrangement, whereas strain 970 contains a second pufBA copy downstream of pufC. Only pufB 1 A 1 is transcribed, and the corresponding mRNA fragment had an increased stability. Alignments of the deduced protein sequences showed that the LHC1 polypeptides are closely related to those of Thermochromatium (Tch.) tepidum. A deletion between αHis0 and αTrp+11, thought to be responsible for the redshifted Q y absorption in Tch. tepidum, was also detected in strain 970 and Trv. winogradskyi, whereas αLys+12 is replaced by histidine only in strain 970. Based on our structural modeling, the side chain of this αHis is predicted to be in close proximity to the BChl a, suggesting that it exerts a modulating effect on the spectral properties of the highly unusual LHC1 complex of strain 970.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Christian Tuschak and Christian Oyntzen for help during initial phases of the present study. The skillful help of Martina Mayer is gratefully acknowledged.

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  1. Ovidiu Rücker & Jörg Overmann

    Present address: Microbial Ecology and Diversity Research, Leibniz-Institut DSMZ—Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen Braunschweig, Inhoffenstraße 7B, 38124, Braunschweig, Germany

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  1. Bereich Mikrobiologie, Department Biologie I, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany

    Ovidiu Rücker, Anne Köhler, Beate Behammer, Katja Sichau & Jörg Overmann

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  1. Ovidiu Rücker
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  2. Anne Köhler
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  3. Beate Behammer
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Correspondence to Jörg Overmann.

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Communicated by Theo Hansen.

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203_2011_735_MOESM2_ESM.pdf

Alignment of all presently available LHC1α- and β-polypeptide sequences. Amino acid numbering is indicated at the top given and is relative to the conserved histidine residues His0 that represents the fifth ligand to the central Mg2+ ion of the BChl macrocycle. The transmembrane domain of the polypeptides is indicated as a solid line at the top. LHC1 sequences obtained in the present study are shown in boldface. (PDF 140 kb)

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Rücker, O., Köhler, A., Behammer, B. et al. Puf operon sequences and inferred structures of light-harvesting complexes of three closely related Chromatiaceae exhibiting different absorption characteristics. Arch Microbiol 194, 123–134 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-011-0735-4

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