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The hypothetical protein Ycf46 is involved in regulation of CO2 utilization in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

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Abstract

Main conclusion

The Ycf46 mutant of Synechocystis showed growth inhibition under low dissolved CO 2 conditions, suggesting a role for the Ycf46 protein in the process of photosynthetic CO 2 uptake and utilization.

Abstract

Hypothetical chloroplast open reading frame Ycf46 proteins are highly conserved in all cyanobacterial lineages and most algal chloroplast genomes, but their exact function is still unknown. In the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, the Ycf46 encoding gene slr0374 is part of an operon (with slr0373 and slr0376) and responds to many environmental stresses. Transcript levels of the slr0373, slr0374 and slr0376 genes were increased under a low concentration of dissolved inorganic carbon (Ci). Compared with the wild type, the mutant lacking slr0374 showed growth arrest under Ci-deficient conditions but not under iron-deficient or low-light conditions. In addition, the mutant grew more slowly than the wild type under pH 6.0 conditions in which CO2 was the dominant Ci source, indicating the mutant cells had weak CO2 uptake and/or utilization ability. Supplying a high concentration of CO2 (5 %, v/v) to the mutant restored its phenotype to the wild type level. The photosynthetic activity of the mutant was inhibited to a lesser extent by a carbonic anhydrase inhibitor than that of the wild type, which specifically blocked CO2 uptake. Inactivation of slr0374 decreased expression of the ecaB gene and reduced carbonic anhydrase activity. A subcellular localization assay indicated that the Ycf46 protein was soluble. By co-immunoprecipitation assay using Slr0374 as a bait-protein, potential interacting proteins in the size range of 30 kDa were identified. These results suggest that the Ycf46 protein plays a role in the regulation of photosynthesis in cyanobacteria, especially in CO2 uptake and utilization.

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Abbreviations

AAA:

ATPases associated with diverse cellular activities

CA:

Carbonic anhydrase

CCM:

CO2-concentrating mechanism

Ci :

Dissolved inorganic carbon

Co-IP:

Co-immunoprecipitation

EZ:

Ethoxyzolamide

LC–MS/MS:

Liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry

ncRNA:

Non-coding RNA

qRT-PCR:

Quantitative reverse transcription PCR

Ycf:

Hypothetical chloroplast open reading frame

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Professor Xudong Xu (Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences) for kindly providing the anti-CP47 antiserum. This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31100184 and No. 31170309).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Sciences, and Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, Central China Normal University, Luoyu Road 152, 430079, Wuhan, Hubei, People’s Republic of China

    Hai-Bo Jiang, Wei-Yu Song, Hui-Min Cheng & Bao-Sheng Qiu

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  1. Hai-Bo Jiang
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  2. Wei-Yu Song
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  4. Bao-Sheng Qiu
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Correspondence to Bao-Sheng Qiu.

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Jiang, HB., Song, WY., Cheng, HM. et al. The hypothetical protein Ycf46 is involved in regulation of CO2 utilization in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. Planta 241, 145–155 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-014-2169-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-014-2169-0

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