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Molecular Aspects of Components of the Ferredoxin/Thioredoxin Systems

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The Molecular Biology of Chloroplasts and Mitochondria in Chlamydomonas

Part of the book series: Advances in Photosynthesis and Respiration ((AIPH,volume 7))

Summary

In the chloroplasts of eukaryotic photosynthetic cells, ferredoxin and thioredoxin are linked in a redox cascade which activates several catalysts of the Calvin cycle by molecular reduction of selected disulfide bridges. These two redox constituents are also present in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and their properties are described. Ferredoxin is a nucleus-encoded protein synthesized as a 126 amino-acid precursor which is processed to a 94 amino-acid mature protein. In contrast with the intronless genes of ferredoxin in land plants, the C. reinhardtii ferredoxin gene (Frx1) contains a single intron and is present in very few copies. In chloroplasts, ferredoxin is located at a metabolic branchpoint. Ferredoxin distributes electrons to many biochemical pathways involving reductive chemistry; e.g. reduced ferredoxin is a substrate of the enzymes ferredoxin NADP+ oxidoreductase (FNR) and ferredoxin-thioredoxin reductase (FTR). Several characteristics of electron transfer from ferredoxin to FNR and FTR will be described. Evidence will also be presented that FNR is subject to post-translational modification (methylation) in C. reinhardtii. As in land plants, C. reinhardtii cells contain several types of thioredoxin, with different subcellular localization. Thioredoxin h is nucleus-encoded, located in the cytosol and does not require a transit sequence. On the other hand, thioredoxin m (106 amino-acids in its mature form) is also nucleus-encoded, synthesized as a precursor of 140 amino-acids and located in the chloroplast. The genes coding for the two thioredoxins (Trx1 and Trx2) have been isolated and sequenced. In addition, the molecular 3D-structures of these two proteins will be presented as well as some of their biochemical characteristics.

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Abbreviations

DTNB:

5-5′ dithiobis nitrobenzoic acid

FNR:

ferredoxin NADP+ oxidoreductase

FAD:

flavin adenine dinucleotide

FTR:

ferredoxin-thioredoxin reductase

NADP-MDH-NADP:

malate dehydrogenase

NTR:

NADPH dependent thioredoxin reductase

TRX:

thioredoxin

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Biotechnologie des Plantes, ERS 569 CNRS, Université de Paris-Sud, Bâtiment 630, F-91405, Orsay Cedex, France

    Jean-Pierre Jacquot, Mariana Stein, Stéphane Lemaire, Paulette Decottignies & Pierre Le Maréchal

  2. RMN Biomoléculaire, ESA CNRS 5078, Université Claude Bernard-Lyon I, Bat. 308, CPE-Lyon, F-69622, Villeurbanne, France

    Jean-Marc Lancelin

Authors
  1. Jean-Pierre Jacquot
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  2. Mariana Stein
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  3. Stéphane Lemaire
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  4. Paulette Decottignies
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  5. Pierre Le Maréchal
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  6. Jean-Marc Lancelin
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Molecular Biology and Plant Biology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    J. -D. Rochaix  & M. Goldschmidt-Clermont  & 

  2. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Institute, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA

    S. Merchant

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© 1998 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Jacquot, JP., Stein, M., Lemaire, S., Decottignies, P., Le Maréchal, P., Lancelin, JM. (1998). Molecular Aspects of Components of the Ferredoxin/Thioredoxin Systems. In: Rochaix, J.D., Goldschmidt-Clermont, M., Merchant, S. (eds) The Molecular Biology of Chloroplasts and Mitochondria in Chlamydomonas. Advances in Photosynthesis and Respiration, vol 7. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-48204-5_26

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-48204-5_26

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