Abstract
Peridinin-containing dinoflagellates are a group of generally marine and photosynthetic protists whose plastids display a number of unusual features. In particular, the plastid genome may be reduced to as few as a dozen genes, and it is not clear if all these genes are expressed. To begin to characterize the plastid proteins, we attempted to purify chloroplasts from the dinoflagellate Lingulodinium polyedrum. We tested several different protocols and found that the organelles were inherently fragile and difficult to isolate intact. In particular, standard purification protocols as described for higher plants produced only broken plastids, as judged by complete loss of the stromal protein RuBisCO. We found that small amounts of RuBisCO could be retained in the plastids if the cells were treated with cellulase prior to lysis. Finally, we report that almost all RuBisCO was retained in plastids prepared from cells subjected to a heat shock treatment, although cellular proteins were denatured by the treatment.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Asano CS, Okamoto OK, Colepicolo P (1998) Diurnal patterns of incorporation of gammaP32-ATP in isolated chloroplasts from G. polyedra. Biol Rhythm Res 29, 488–493
Barbrook AC, Howe CJ (2000) Minicircular plastid DNA in the dinoflagellate Amphidinium operculatum Mol Gen Genet 263, 152–158
Barbrook AC, Symington H, Nisbet RE, Larkum A., Howe CJ (2001) Organisation and expression of the plastid genome of the dinoflagellate Amphidinium operculatum. Mol Genet Genomics 266, 632–638
Dionisio-Sese ML, Maruyama T, Miyachi S (2001) Photosynthesis of Prochloron as affected by environmental factors Mar Biotechnol 3, 74–79
Fagan T, Hastings JW, Morse D (1998) The phylogeny of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase indicates lateral gene transfer from cryptomonads to dinoflagellates. J Mol Evol 47, 633–639
Fagan T, Morse D., Hastings J (1999) Circadian synthesis of a nuclear encoded chloroplast Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase in the dinoflagellate Gonyaulax polyedra is translationally controlled. Biochemistry 38, 7689–7695
Gibbs S (1981) The chloroplasts of some algal groups may have evolved from endosymbiotic eukaryotic algae Ann. NY Acad Sci 361, 193–208
Grossman AR, Bhaya D, Apt KE, Kehoe DM (1995) Light-harvesting complexes in oxygenic photosynthesis: diversity, control, and evolution Annu Rev Genet 29, 231–288
Guillard RRL, Ryther JH (1962) Studies on marine planktonic diatoms: Cyclotella nana Hufstedt and Denotula confervacea (Cleve) Gran. Can J Microbiol 8, 229–239
Herman EM, Sweeney BM (1975) Circadian rhythm of chloroplast ultrastructure in Gonyaulax polyedra, concentric organization around a central cluster of ribosomes. J Ultrastruct. Res. 50, 347–354
Hiller R, Wrench P., Sharples F (1995) The light harvesting chlorophyll a-c binding protein of dinoflagellates: a putative polyprotein. FEBS Lett 363, 175–178
Hiller RG (2001) ‘Empty’ minicircles and petB/atpA and psbD/psbE (cytb559 alpha) genes in tandem in Amphidinium carterae plastid DNA. FEBS Lett 505, 449–452
Hofmann E, Wrench PM, Sharples FP, Hiller RG, Welte W, Diederichs K (1996) Structural basis of light harvesting by carotenoids: peridinin-chlorophyll-protein from Amphidinium carterae Science 272, 1788–1791
Howe CJ, Barbrook AC, Koumandou VL, Nisbet RE, Symington HA, Wightman TF (2003) Evolution of the chloroplast genome. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 358, 99–106; discussion 106–107
Jeffrey S, Seilicki M, Haxo F (1975) Chloroplast pigment patterns in dinoflagellates. J Phycol. 11, 374–384
Jones H (ed) (1995) Plant Gene Transfer and Expression Protocols. (Totowa, NJ: Humana Press)
Laemmli UK (1970) Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature 227, 680–685
Le Q, Jovine R, Markovic P, Morse D (2001) PCP is not implicated in the photosynthesis rhythm of Gonyaulax despite circadian regulation of its translation. Biol Rhythm Res 32, 579–594
Le QH, Markovic P, Jovine R, Hastings J, Morse D (1997) Sequence and genomic organization of the peridinin-chlorophyll a-protein from Gonyaulax polyedra. Mol Gen Genet 255, 595–604
Morse D, Salois P, Markovic P, Hastings JW (1995) A nuclear encoded form II rubisco in dinoflagellates. Science 268, 1622–1624
Narang F, McIntosh L, Somerville C (1984) Nucleotide sequence of the ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase gene from Rhodospirillum rubrum. Mol Gen Genet 193, 220–224
Nassoury N, Fritz L, Morse D (2001) Circadian changes in ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase distribution inside individual chloroplasts can account for the rhythm in dinoflagellate carbon fixation Plant Cell 13, 923–34
Nassoury N, Cappadocia M, Morse D (2003) Plastid ultrastructure defines the protein import pathway in dinoflagellates. J Cell Sci 116, 2867–2874
Norris BJ, Miller DJ (1994) Nucleotide sequence of a cDNA clone encoding the precursor of the peridinin-chlorophyll a-binding protein from the dinoflagellate Symbiodinium sp. Plant Mol Biol 24, 673–7
Peltier JB, Friso G, Kalume DE, Roepstorff P, Nilsson F, Adamska I, van Wijk KJ (2000) Proteomics of the chloroplast: systematic identification and targeting analysis of lumenal and peripheral thylakoid proteins. Plant Cell 12, 319–341
Prezelin B, Haxo F (1976) Purification and characterization of peridinin-chlorophyll a-proteins from the marine dinoflagellates Glenodinium and Gonyaulax. Planta 130, 251–256
Rensing L, Taylor WR, Dunlap J, Hastings JW (1980) The effects of protein synthesis inhibitors on the Gonyaulax clock II: the effect of cycloheximide on ultrastructural parameters J Comp Physiol 138, 9–18
Rowan R, Whitney SM, Fowler A, Yellowlees D (1996) Rubisco in marine symbiotic dinoflagellates: form II enzymes in eukaryotic oxygenic phototrophs encoded by a nuclear multigene family Plant Cell 8, 539–553
Schmitter R (1971) The fine structure of Gonyaulax polyedra, a bioluminescent marine dinoflagellate. J Cell Sci 9, 147–173
Schuler M, Zielinski R (1989) Methods in Plant Molecular Biology. San Diego, Calif: Academic Press
Whitney S, Andrews T (1998) The CO2/O2 specificity of single-subunit ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase from the dinoflagellate Amphidinium carterae. Aust J Plant Physiol. 25, 131–138
Zhang Z, Green BR, Cavalier-Smith T (1999) Single gene circles in dinoflagellate chloroplast genomes. Nature 400, 155–159
Zhang Z, Green BR, Cavalier-Smith T (2000) Phylogeny of ultra-rapidly evolving dinoflagellate chloroplast genes: a possible common origin for sporozoan and dinoflagellate plastids. J Mol Evol 51, 26–40
Zhang Z, Cavalier-Smith T, Green BR (2001) A family of selfish minicircular chromosomes with jumbled chloroplast gene fragments from a dinoflagellate. Mol Biol Evol 18, 1558–1565
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wang, Y., MacKenzie, T. & Morse, D. Purification of Plastids from the Dinoflagellate Lingulodinium . Mar Biotechnol 7, 659–668 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10126-004-5126-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10126-004-5126-2