phycoviolobilin and phycoerythrobilin

Phycobilisomes, the light-harvesting antennas in cyanobacteria and red algae, consist of an allophycocyanin core that is attached to the membrane via a core-membrane linker, and rods comprised of phycocyanin and often also phycoerythrin or phycoerythrocyanin. Phycobiliproteins show excellent energy transfer among the chromophores that renders them biomarkers with large Stokes-shifts absorbing over most of the visible spectrum and into the near infrared. Their application is limited, however, due to covalent binding of the chromophores and by solubility problems. We report construction of a water-soluble minimal chromophore-binding unit of the red-absorbing and fluorescing core-membrane linker. This was fused to minimal chromophore-binding units of phycocyanin. After double chromophorylation with phycocyanobilin, in E. coli, the fused phycobiliproteins absorbed light in the range of 610-660nm, and fluoresced at ~670nm, similar to phycobilisomes devoid of phycoerythr(ocyan)in. The fused phycobiliprotein could also be doubly chromophorylated with phycoerythrobilin, resulting in a chromoprotein absorbing around 540-575nm, and fluorescing at ~585nm. The broad absorptions and the large Stokes shifts render these chromoproteins candidates for imaging; they may also be helpful in studying phycobilisome assembly.

Topics: Absorption; Apoproteins; Cell Membrane; Escherichia coli; Lyases; Phycobilins; Phycobilisomes; Phycocyanin; Phycoerythrin; Recombinant Fusion Proteins; Solubility; Spectrometry, Fluorescence; Urobilin

Most cyanobacteria harvest light with large antenna complexes called phycobilisomes. The diversity of their constituting phycobiliproteins contributes to optimize the photosynthetic capacity of these microorganisms. Phycobiliprotein biosynthesis, which involves several post-translational modifications including covalent attachment of the linear tetrapyrrole chromophores (phycobilins) to apoproteins, begins to be well understood. However, the biosynthetic pathway to the blue-green-absorbing phycourobilin (lambda(max) approximately 495 nm) remained unknown, although it is the major phycobilin of cyanobacteria living in oceanic areas where blue light penetrates deeply into the water column. We describe a unique trichromatic phycocyanin, R-PC V, extracted from phycobilisomes of Synechococcus sp. strain WH8102. It is evolutionarily remarkable as the only chromoprotein known so far that absorbs the whole wavelength range between 450 and 650 nm. R-PC V carries a phycourobilin chromophore on its alpha-subunit, and this can be considered an extreme case of adaptation to blue-green light. We also discovered the enzyme, RpcG, responsible for its biosynthesis. This monomeric enzyme catalyzes binding of the green-absorbing phycoerythrobilin at cysteine 84 with concomitant isomerization to phycourobilin. This reaction is analogous to formation of the orange-absorbing phycoviolobilin from the red-absorbing phycocyanobilin that is catalyzed by the lyase-isomerase PecE/F in some freshwater cyanobacteria. The fusion protein, RpcG, and the heterodimeric PecE/F are mutually interchangeable in a heterologous expression system in Escherichia coli. The novel R-PC V likely optimizes rod-core energy transfer in phycobilisomes and thereby adaptation of a major phytoplankton group to the blue-green light prevailing in oceanic waters.

Topics: Chromatin; Circular Dichroism; Cyanobacteria; Evolution, Molecular; Isomerases; Lyases; Molecular Structure; Phycobilins; Phycocyanin; Phycoerythrin; Phylogeny; Protein Processing, Post-Translational; Seawater; Substrate Specificity