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Glycolipid analyses of light-harvesting chlorosomes from envelope protein mutants of Chlorobaculum tepidum

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Abstract

Chlorosomes are large and efficient light-harvesting organelles in green photosynthetic bacteria, and they characteristically contain large numbers of bacteriochlorophyll c, d, or e molecules. Self-aggregated bacteriochlorophyll pigments are surrounded by a monolayer envelope membrane comprised of glycolipids and Csm proteins. Here, we analyzed glycolipid compositions of chlorosomes from the green sulfur bacterium Chlorobaculum tepidum mutants lacking one, two, or three Csm proteins by HPLC equipped with an evaporative light-scattering detector. The ratio of monogalactosyldiacylglyceride (MGDG) to rhamnosylgalactosyldiacylglyceride (RGDG) was smaller in chlorosomes from mutants lacking two or three proteins in CsmC/D/H motif family than in chlorosomes from the wild-type, whereas chlorosomes lacking CsmIJ showed relatively less RGDG than MGDG. The results suggest that the CsmC, CsmD, CsmH, and other chlorosome proteins are involved in organizing MGDG and RGDG and thereby affect the size and shape of the chlorosome.

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Abbreviations

BChl:

Bacteriochlorophyll

ELSD:

Evaporative light-scattering detector

GSB:

Green sulfur bacteria

MGDG:

Monogalactosyldiacylglyceride

RGDG:

Rhamnosylgalactosyldiacylglyceride

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) (No. 22245030 to H.T.), for Scientific Research (C) (No. 24550065 to T.M.), for Young Scientists (B) (No. 26840099 to Y.T.), and for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (“Artificial Photosynthesis,” No. 24107002 to H.T.) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). This work was also supported by the PRESTO (Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and Technology) program from the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). Work in the laboratory of D. A. B. was supported by grant DE-FG02-94ER20137 from the U. S. Department of Energy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan

    Yusuke Tsukatani

  2. PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Saitama, 332-0012, Japan

    Yusuke Tsukatani

  3. Graduate School of Life Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, Shiga, 525-8577, Japan

    Tadashi Mizoguchi & Hitoshi Tamiaki

  4. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania, 16802, USA

    Jennifer Thweatt, Marcus Tank & Donald A. Bryant

  5. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Montana State University, Montana, 59717, USA

    Donald A. Bryant

Authors
  1. Yusuke Tsukatani
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  2. Tadashi Mizoguchi
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  3. Jennifer Thweatt
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  4. Marcus Tank
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  5. Donald A. Bryant
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  6. Hitoshi Tamiaki
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Correspondence to Yusuke Tsukatani.

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Tsukatani, Y., Mizoguchi, T., Thweatt, J. et al. Glycolipid analyses of light-harvesting chlorosomes from envelope protein mutants of Chlorobaculum tepidum . Photosynth Res 128, 235–241 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-016-0228-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-016-0228-z

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