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A linker protein from a red-type pyrenoid phase separates with Rubisco via oligomerizing sticker motifs.

ABSTRACT: The slow kinetics and poor substrate specificity of the key photosynthetic CO₂-fixing enzyme Rubisco have prompted the repeated evolution of Rubisco-containing biomolecular condensates known as pyrenoids in the majority of eukaryotic microalgae. Diatoms dominate marine photosynthesis, but the interactions underlying their pyrenoids are unknown. Here, we identify and characterize the Rubisco linker protein PYCO1 from Phaeodactylum tricornutum. PYCO1 is a tandem repeat protein containing prion-like domains that localizes to the pyrenoid. It undergoes homotypic liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) to form condensates that specifically partition diatom Rubisco. Saturation of PYCO1 condensates with Rubisco greatly reduces the mobility of droplet components. Cryo-electron microscopy and mutagenesis data revealed the sticker motifs required for homotypic and heterotypic phase separation. Our data indicate that the PYCO1-Rubisco network is cross-linked by PYCO1 stickers that oligomerize to bind to the small subunits lining the central solvent channel of the Rubisco holoenzyme. A second sticker motif binds to the large subunit. Pyrenoidal Rubisco condensates are highly diverse and tractable models of functional LLPS.

SUBMITTER: Oh ZG

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10288592 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A linker protein from a red-type pyrenoid phase separates with Rubisco via oligomerizing sticker motifs.

Oh Zhen Guo ZG Ang Warren Shou Leong WSL Poh Cheng Wei CW Lai Soak-Kuan SK Sze Siu Kwan SK Li Hoi-Yeung HY Bhushan Shashi S Wunder Tobias T Mueller-Cajar Oliver O

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20230613 25

The slow kinetics and poor substrate specificity of the key photosynthetic CO<sub>2</sub>-fixing enzyme Rubisco have prompted the repeated evolution of Rubisco-containing biomolecular condensates known as pyrenoids in the majority of eukaryotic microalgae. Diatoms dominate marine photosynthesis, but the interactions underlying their pyrenoids are unknown. Here, we identify and characterize the Rubisco linker protein PYCO1 from <i>Phaeodactylum tricornutum</i>. PYCO1 is a tandem repeat protein co ...[more]

PMID: 37311001

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Project description:The slow kinetics and poor substrate specificity of the key photosynthetic CO2-fixing enzyme Rubisco have prompted the repeated evolution of Rubisco containing compartments known as pyrenoids in diverse algal lineages and carboxysomes in prokaryotes. Inside these compartments actively transported bicarbonate is converted into CO2 gas, which saturates the carboxylase with its substrate. Using co-immunoprecipitation experiments in Phaeodactylum tricornutum we have identified the Rubisco linker protein PYCO1. Similar to the green algal Rubisco linker protein EPYC1, PYCO1 is intrinsically disordered, possesses repeats and is positively charged at physiological pH. However, it possesses no sequence similarity to EPYC1, as expected for convergent evolution of a red Rubisco containing pyrenoid. Fluorescent PYCO1 fusion proteins localize as a rod shaped structure in the diatom chloroplast, consistent with the shape of the pyrenoid defined by transmission electron microscopy. To test the hypothesis that PYCO1 is the diatom pyrenoid scaffold we produced pure protein in Escherichia coli. Recombinant PYCO1 protein undergoes homotypic liquid liquid phase separation in a salt dependent manner. Diatom Rubisco specifically partitions into PYCO1 condensates. Heterotypic PYCO1-Rubisco condensates can bind up to three Rubisco hexadecamers per PYCO1 protein. Rubisco carboxylase function is unaffected in the condensates. PYCO1 is highly mobile in homotypic condensates. In contrast PYCO1 condensates saturated with diatom Rubisco have greatly reduced dynamics, with both PYCO1 and Rubisco becoming immobile. Consistently, FRAP experiments indicate that PYCO1 is not mobile in vivo. A combination of Cryo-electron microscopy and site-directed mutagenesis data show that the KWSP motif found in PYCO1 repeats binds to small subunits at the entrance of the Rubisco hexadecamer’s solvent channel. Analysis of mutant PYCO1 proteins show that both the “KWSP” tryptophan and another repeating tyrosine are essential for homotypic phase separation. We speculate that the unusual material properties of the PYCO1-Rubisco condensate are necessary to support the unusual non-spherical shape of the Phaeodactylum pyrenoid. Careful characterization of multiple diverse Rubisco condensates will strengthen translational approaches aiming to introduce pyrenoids and other metabolic condensates into new host organisms.

Dataset Information

A linker protein from a red-type pyrenoid phase separates with Rubisco via oligomerizing sticker motifs.

Publications

A linker protein from a red-type pyrenoid phase separates with Rubisco via oligomerizing sticker motifs.

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