Dataset Information

Cryo-EM structures of light-harvesting 2 complexes from Rhodopseudomonas palustris reveal the molecular origin of absorption tuning.

ABSTRACT: The genomes of some purple photosynthetic bacteria contain a multigene puc family encoding a series of α- and β-polypeptides that together form a heterogeneous antenna of light-harvesting 2 (LH2) complexes. To unravel this complexity, we generated four sets of puc deletion mutants in Rhodopseudomonas palustris, each encoding a single type of pucBA gene pair and enabling the purification of complexes designated as PucA-LH2, PucB-LH2, PucD-LH2, and PucE-LH2. The structures of all four purified LH2 complexes were determined by cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) at resolutions ranging from 2.7 to 3.6 Å. Uniquely, each of these complexes contains a hitherto unknown polypeptide, γ, that forms an extended undulating ribbon that lies in the plane of the membrane and that encloses six of the nine LH2 αβ-subunits. The γ-subunit, which is located near to the cytoplasmic side of the complex, breaks the C9 symmetry of the LH2 complex and binds six extra bacteriochlorophylls (BChls) that enhance the 800-nm absorption of each complex. The structures show that all four complexes have two complete rings of BChls, conferring absorption bands centered at 800 and 850 nm on the PucA-LH2, PucB-LH2, and PucE-LH2 complexes, but, unusually, the PucD-LH2 antenna has only a single strong near-infared (NIR) absorption peak at 803 nm. Comparison of the cryo-EM structures of these LH2 complexes reveals altered patterns of hydrogen bonds between LH2 αβ-side chains and the bacteriochlorin rings, further emphasizing the major role that H bonds play in spectral tuning of bacterial antenna complexes.

SUBMITTER: Qian P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9618040 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Cryo-EM structures of light-harvesting 2 complexes from Rhodopseudomonas palustris reveal the molecular origin of absorption tuning.

Qian Pu P Nguyen-Phan Cam T CT Gardiner Alastair T AT Croll Tristan I TI Roszak Aleksander W AW Southall June J Jackson Philip J PJ Vasilev Cvetelin C Castro-Hartmann Pablo P Sader Kasim K Hunter C Neil CN Cogdell Richard J RJ

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20221017 43

The genomes of some purple photosynthetic bacteria contain a multigene puc family encoding a series of α- and β-polypeptides that together form a heterogeneous antenna of light-harvesting 2 (LH2) complexes. To unravel this complexity, we generated four sets of puc deletion mutants in Rhodopseudomonas palustris, each encoding a single type of pucBA gene pair and enabling the purification of complexes designated as PucA-LH2, PucB-LH2, PucD-LH2, and PucE-LH2. The structu ...[more]

PMID: 36251992

Similar Datasets

Project description:Peripheral light harvesting (LH) antenna complexes have been studied extensively in the purple nonsulfur bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris because it produces different types of LH complexes under high light intensities (LH2 complex) and low light intensities (LH3 and LH4 complex). The ability of R. palustris to alter its peripheral LH complexes in response to changes in light intensity is attributed to the multiple operons that encode the a and b peptides that make up these complexes, whose expression is affected by light intensity, light quality, and oxygen tension. However, low resolution structures, amino acid similarities between the complexes, and a lack of transcriptional analysis made it difficult to determine the LH complexes composition and functions under different light intensities. It was also unclear how much diversity of the R. palustris LH complexes exists in nature.Results: To gain insight into the composition of the LH complexes, their function under high light intensities and low light intensities, and their prevalence in the environment we undertook an integrative genomics approach using 15 closely related R. palustris strains isolated from the environment and 5 R. palustris ecotypes whose genomes have been sequenced. We sequenced the genomes for the 15 closely related strains and using RNA-seq carried out transcriptomic analysis on all 20 strains grown under high light intensity and low light intensity. We were able to determine that even closely related R. palustris strains had differences in their pucBA gene content and expression, even under the same growth conditions. We also found that the LH2 complex could compensate for the lack of an LH4 complex under LL intensities but not under extremely LL intensities. Conclusions: This is the first time an integrative genomics approach has been used to study light harvesting in the environment. The variation observed in LH gene composition and expression in environmental isolates of R. palustris likely reflects how these strains have adapted to specific light conditions in the environment. We have also shown that there is redundancy between some of the LH complexes under certain light intensities, which may partially explain why multiple operons encoding LH complexes have evolved and been maintained in R. palustris.

Dataset Information

Cryo-EM structures of light-harvesting 2 complexes from Rhodopseudomonas palustris reveal the molecular origin of absorption tuning.

Publications

Cryo-EM structures of light-harvesting 2 complexes from <i>Rhodopseudomonas palustris</i> reveal the molecular origin of absorption tuning.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets