Abstract
Phycobilisomes (PBSs) are light-harvesting antennae that transfer energy to photosynthetic reaction centers in cyanobacteria and red algae. PBSs are supermolecular complexes composed of phycobiliproteins (PBPs) that bear chromophores for energy absorption and linker proteins. Although the structures of some individual components have been determined using crystallography, the three-dimensional structure of an entire PBS complex, which is critical for understanding the energy transfer mechanism, remains unknown. Here, we report the structures of an intact PBS and a PBS in complex with photosystem II (PSII) from Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 using single-particle electron microscopy in combination with biochemical and molecular analyses. In the PBS structure, all PBP trimers and the conserved linker protein domains were unambiguously located, and the global distribution of all chromophores was determined. We provide evidence that ApcE and ApcF are critical for the formation of a protrusion at the bottom of PBS, which plays an important role in mediating PBS interaction with PSII. Our results provide insights into the molecular architecture of an intact PBS at different assembly levels and provide the basis for understanding how the light energy absorbed by PBS is transferred to PSII.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Jianlin Lei for setting up a semi-automated program for data collection, Lixin Zhang for providing antibodies against D1 and D2, Ying-Chun Hu for technical assistance in immunogold labeling experiments, and Hong-Wei Wang and Da-Neng Wang for critical reading of the manuscript. We acknowledge the Tsinghua University Branch of China National Center for Protein Sciences Beijing for providing EM resources. This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2011CB910500 and 2010CB833706 to SFS, and 2009CB118500 and 2015CB150100 to JZ) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31230016 and 31370717 to SFS).
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Supplementary information
Supplementary information, Figure S1
Structural elements and available crystal structures of subunits in the PBS from Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120. (PDF 182 kb)
Supplementary information, Figure S2
Sample preparation of intact PBSs from Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120. (PDF 125 kb)
Supplementary information, Figure S3
Negative staining of intact PBS from Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120. (PDF 152 kb)
Supplementary information, Figure S4
Coordinate system building and the orientation of each cylinder. (PDF 110 kb)
Supplementary information, Figure S5
Association of PSII to the PBS. (PDF 93 kb)
Supplementary information, Figure S6
Comparison of hexamers. (PDF 127 kb)
Supplementary information, Figure S7
Molecular reconstitution and purification of LRC mutated PBSs. (PDF 431 kb)
Supplementary information, Figure S8
Pigment distribution and energy transfer pathway. (PDF 181 kb)
Supplementary information, Figure S9
Two models of PSI in the complex PBS-PSII-PSI. (PDF 270 kb)
Supplementary information, Table S1
Cross-correlation coefficient (CCC) of crystal structures and the EM density map. (PDF 127 kb)
Supplementary information, Table S2
Primers used in this study. (PDF 130 kb)
Supplementary information, Movie S1
Structures of the intact PBS and the PBS-PSII complex. (MP4 8563 kb)
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Chang, L., Liu, X., Li, Y. et al. Structural organization of an intact phycobilisome and its association with photosystem II. Cell Res 25, 726–737 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/cr.2015.59
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/cr.2015.59
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