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Carotenoids are Probably Involved in Singlet Oxygen Generation in the Membranes of Purple Photosynthetic Bacteria under Light Irradiation

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Abstract—

The possibility of singlet oxygen generation in five species of photosynthetic bacteria under irradiation with light was studied using the Singlet Oxygen Sensor Green (SOSG) dye that, when singlet oxygen is bound, is transformed into a fluorescent endoperoxide form. Irradiation was carried out using light of different spectral composition: red (absorption of bacteriochlorophyll, BChl) and white (absorption of BChl and carotenoids). No singlet oxygen generation was detected under red light irradiation, which indicated that BChl was not involved in this process. Under white light, as the irradiation time increased, an increase in SOSG fluorescence was recorded in the membranes of four bacterial species: Allochromatium vinosum MSU, Rhodobacter sphaeroides G1C, Rba. blasticus K-1 and Rhodopseudomonas faecalis. In Rba. sphaeroides, no increase in SOSG fluorescence was observed. It is assumed that in the white light this process occurs due to the pigments that absorb in the blue-green region of the spectrum, i.e. carotenoids with 8‒11 conjugated double bonds (neurosporene, spheroidene, lycopene, and rhodopin). Similar to Trolox, SOSG may slow down the bleaching process of BChl850 in the membranes of Alc. vinosum strain MSU and may therefore effectively perform the role of a singlet oxygen trap.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are grateful to Professor V.M. Gorlenko (Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology, FRC of Biotechnology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow) for providing Rba. blasticus K-1 and Rps. faecalis cultures; to Professor S. Takaichi (Nippon Medical School, Tokyo, Japan) for providing the Rba.sphaeroides G1C culture, as well as to Z.A. Zhuravleva (IBBP, Russian Academy of Sciences) for assistance in growing bacteria and obtaining membranes.

Funding

This work was supported in part by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (projects nos. 18-04-00684_a; 18-34-00416_mol_a; 17-04-00929_a). The results presented in Figs. 1–3 were obtained in the framework of the state assignment no. AAAA-A17-117030110140-5.

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  1. Institute of Basic Biological Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, 142290, Pushchino, Russia

    Z. K. Makhneva, A. A. Ashikhmin, M. A. Bolshakov & A. A. Moskalenko

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  1. Z. K. Makhneva
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Correspondence to A. A. Moskalenko.

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Translated by E. Babchenko

Accepted abbreviations: BChl, bacteriochlorophyll; Crt, carotenoid; LH, light-harvesting; RC, reaction center; Alc.,Allochromatium; Rba.,Rhodobacter; Rps., Rhodopseudomonas;Rsb., Roseobacter; SOSG, Singlet Oxygen Sensor Green.

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Makhneva, Z.K., Ashikhmin, A.A., Bolshakov, M.A. et al. Carotenoids are Probably Involved in Singlet Oxygen Generation in the Membranes of Purple Photosynthetic Bacteria under Light Irradiation. Microbiology 89, 164–173 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0026261720010099

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