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The LH2 complexes are assembled in the cells of purple sulfur bacterium Ectothiorhodospira haloalkaliphila with inhibition of carotenoid biosynthesis

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Abstract

The effect of the inhibitor of carotenoid (Car) biosynthesis, diphenylamine (DPA), on the cells of the purple sulfur bacterium Ectothiorhodospira (Ect.) haloalkaliphila has been studied. There occurs an inhibition of the biosynthesis of colored Cars (≥99 %) at 71 μM DPA. Considering “empty” Car pockets (Moskalenko and Makhneva 2012) the content of Cars in the DPA-treated samples is first calculated more correctly. The total content of the colored Cars in the sample at 71 μM DPA does not exceed 1 % of the wild type. In the DPA-treated cells (membranes) a complete set of pigment-protein complexes is retained. The LH2 complex at 71 μM DPA is isolated, which is identical to the LH2 complex of the wild type in near IR absorption spectra. This suggests that the principles for assembling this LH2 complex in vivo in the absence of colored Cars remain the same. These results are in full agreement with the data obtained earlier for Allochromatium (Alc.) minutissimum (Moskalenko and Makhneva 2012). They are as follows: (1) DPA almost entirely inhibits the biosynthesis of the colored Cars in Ect. haloalkaliphila cells. (2) In the DPA-treated samples non-colored Cars are detected at 53.25 μM DPA (as traces) and at 71 μM DPA. (3) DPA may affect both phytoene synthase (at ≤71 μM DPA) and phytoene desaturase (at ≥53.25 μM DPA). (4) The assembly of LH2 complex does occur without any colored Cars.

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Abbreviations

DPA:

Diphenylamine

DPA-treated sample:

A sample isolated from the cells grown with DPA

IR:

Infrared

LH complex:

Light-harvesting complex

RC:

Reaction center

BChl:

Bacteriochlorophyll

Car:

Carotenoid

Car-less:

Carotenoidless

CDB:

Conjugated double bond

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Acknowledgments

The work was partially supported by the Grants of Russian Foundation for Basic Research 13-04-01184a, 12-04-00412a, and the Grant of the President of the Russian Federation HШ-307.2012.4. The authors are grateful to Professor Imhoff JF (Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Germany) for the Ect. haloalkaliphila cells and Zhuravleva ZA for her help in growing bacteria and isolating the samples.

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

    Aleksandr Ashikhmin, Zoya Makhneva & Andrey Moskalenko

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  1. Aleksandr Ashikhmin
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  2. Zoya Makhneva
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Correspondence to Andrey Moskalenko.

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Ashikhmin, A., Makhneva, Z. & Moskalenko, A. The LH2 complexes are assembled in the cells of purple sulfur bacterium Ectothiorhodospira haloalkaliphila with inhibition of carotenoid biosynthesis. Photosynth Res 119, 291–303 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-013-9947-6

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