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Accumulation of chlorophyllous pigments esterified with the geranylgeranyl group and photosynthetic competence in the CT2256-deleted mutant of the green sulfur bacterium Chlorobium tepidum

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Abstract

Green sulfur bacteria contain chlorophyllous pigments, chlorophyll (Chl) aPD and bacteriochlorophyll (BChl) aP, esterified with Δ2,6-phytadienol and phytol, respectively, which would be produced by reduction of the geranylgeranyl group at the C-17 propionate residue. In the genome of Chlorobiumtepidum, two paralogous genes presumably encoding geranylgeranyl reductase, CT1232 and CT2256, are found. The deletion mutants of the CT1232 and CT2256genes were constructed using an insertional inactivation method in order to clarify the biosynthetic process of the Δ2,6-phytadienyl and phytyl groups in green sulfur bacteria. The compositions of chlorophyllous pigments in the two mutants were determined by LC-MS analysis. The CT2256-deleted mutant accumulated ChlaGG and BChl aGG esterified with geranylgeraniol, indicating that CT2256 was involved in the production of both Δ2,6-phytadienyl and phytyl groups. The relatively high fluorescence emission from chlorosomes in the mutant also suggested some hindrance of the energy transfer from chlorosomes to the reaction center complex. However, the CT1232-deleted mutant almost showed no apparent phenotype compared to the wild type. Furthermore, the purple bacterium Rhodobactercapsulatus mutant defective in the bchPgene was partially complemented with the CT2256gene; BChl aP was synthesized in the mutant in addition to accumulating other intermediates.

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Author notes

  1. J. H., S. M., and T. M. contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University, Kusatsu, Shiga, 525-8577, Japan

    Jiro Harada, Tadashi Mizoguchi & Hitoshi Tamiaki

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, Osaka University, Osaka, 560-0043, Japan

    Shohei Miyago, Chihiro Azai & Hirozo Oh-Oka

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Kanagawa University, Kanagawa, 259-1293, Japan

    Kazuhito Inoue

Authors
  1. Jiro Harada
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  2. Shohei Miyago
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  3. Tadashi Mizoguchi
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  4. Chihiro Azai
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  5. Kazuhito Inoue
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  6. Hitoshi Tamiaki
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  7. Hirozo Oh-Oka
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Correspondence to Hirozo Oh-Oka.

Additional information

This paper was published as part of the themed issue of contributions from the 7th International Conference on Tetrapyrrole Photoreceptors in Photosynthetic Organisms held in Kyoto, December 2007.

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Harada, J., Miyago, S., Mizoguchi, T. et al. Accumulation of chlorophyllous pigments esterified with the geranylgeranyl group and photosynthetic competence in the CT2256-deleted mutant of the green sulfur bacterium Chlorobium tepidum. Photochem Photobiol Sci 7, 1179–1187 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1039/b802435a

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