Molecular Evolution of Far-Red Light-Acclimated Photosystem II
Cyanobacteria are major contributors to global carbon fixation and primarily use visible light (400−700 nm) to drive oxygenic photosynthesis. When shifted into environments where visible light is attenuated, a small, but highly diverse and widespread number of cyanobacteria can express modified pigm...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-06-01
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| Series: | Microorganisms |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/10/7/1270 |
| _version_ | 1797416872570781696 |
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| author | Christopher J. Gisriel Tanai Cardona Donald A. Bryant Gary W. Brudvig |
| author_facet | Christopher J. Gisriel Tanai Cardona Donald A. Bryant Gary W. Brudvig |
| author_sort | Christopher J. Gisriel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Cyanobacteria are major contributors to global carbon fixation and primarily use visible light (400−700 nm) to drive oxygenic photosynthesis. When shifted into environments where visible light is attenuated, a small, but highly diverse and widespread number of cyanobacteria can express modified pigments and paralogous versions of photosystem subunits and phycobiliproteins that confer far-red light (FRL) absorbance (700−800 nm), a process termed far-red light photoacclimation, or FaRLiP. During FaRLiP, alternate photosystem II (PSII) subunits enable the complex to bind chlorophylls <i>d</i> and <i>f</i>, which absorb at lower energy than chlorophyll <i>a</i> but still support water oxidation. How the FaRLiP response arose remains poorly studied. Here, we report ancestral sequence reconstruction and structure-based molecular evolutionary studies of the FRL-specific subunits of FRL-PSII. We show that the duplications leading to the origin of two PsbA (D1) paralogs required to make chlorophyll <i>f</i> and to bind chlorophyll <i>d</i> in water-splitting FRL-PSII are likely the first to have occurred prior to the diversification of extant cyanobacteria. These duplications were followed by those leading to alternative PsbC (CP43) and PsbD (D2) subunits, occurring early during the diversification of cyanobacteria, and culminating with those leading to PsbB (CP47) and PsbH paralogs coincident with the radiation of the major groups. We show that the origin of FRL-PSII required the accumulation of a relatively small number of amino acid changes and that the ancestral FRL-PSII likely contained a chlorophyll <i>d</i> molecule in the electron transfer chain, two chlorophyll <i>f</i> molecules in the antenna subunits at equivalent positions, and three chlorophyll <i>a</i> molecules whose site energies were altered. The results suggest a minimal model for engineering far-red light absorbance into plant PSII for biotechnological applications. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:10:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7ad3ee08fdbe403c8c11dc45286571d7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-2607 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:10:29Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Microorganisms |
| spelling | doaj.art-7ad3ee08fdbe403c8c11dc45286571d72023-12-03T11:58:28ZengMDPI AGMicroorganisms2076-26072022-06-01107127010.3390/microorganisms10071270Molecular Evolution of Far-Red Light-Acclimated Photosystem IIChristopher J. Gisriel0Tanai Cardona1Donald A. Bryant2Gary W. Brudvig3Department of Chemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USADepartment of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UKDepartment of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USADepartment of Chemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USACyanobacteria are major contributors to global carbon fixation and primarily use visible light (400−700 nm) to drive oxygenic photosynthesis. When shifted into environments where visible light is attenuated, a small, but highly diverse and widespread number of cyanobacteria can express modified pigments and paralogous versions of photosystem subunits and phycobiliproteins that confer far-red light (FRL) absorbance (700−800 nm), a process termed far-red light photoacclimation, or FaRLiP. During FaRLiP, alternate photosystem II (PSII) subunits enable the complex to bind chlorophylls <i>d</i> and <i>f</i>, which absorb at lower energy than chlorophyll <i>a</i> but still support water oxidation. How the FaRLiP response arose remains poorly studied. Here, we report ancestral sequence reconstruction and structure-based molecular evolutionary studies of the FRL-specific subunits of FRL-PSII. We show that the duplications leading to the origin of two PsbA (D1) paralogs required to make chlorophyll <i>f</i> and to bind chlorophyll <i>d</i> in water-splitting FRL-PSII are likely the first to have occurred prior to the diversification of extant cyanobacteria. These duplications were followed by those leading to alternative PsbC (CP43) and PsbD (D2) subunits, occurring early during the diversification of cyanobacteria, and culminating with those leading to PsbB (CP47) and PsbH paralogs coincident with the radiation of the major groups. We show that the origin of FRL-PSII required the accumulation of a relatively small number of amino acid changes and that the ancestral FRL-PSII likely contained a chlorophyll <i>d</i> molecule in the electron transfer chain, two chlorophyll <i>f</i> molecules in the antenna subunits at equivalent positions, and three chlorophyll <i>a</i> molecules whose site energies were altered. The results suggest a minimal model for engineering far-red light absorbance into plant PSII for biotechnological applications.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/10/7/1270photosynthesiscyanobacteriaancestral sequence reconstructionchlorophyll <i>f</i>chlorophyll <i>d</i>far-red light photoacclimation |
| spellingShingle | Christopher J. Gisriel Tanai Cardona Donald A. Bryant Gary W. Brudvig Molecular Evolution of Far-Red Light-Acclimated Photosystem II Microorganisms photosynthesis cyanobacteria ancestral sequence reconstruction chlorophyll <i>f</i> chlorophyll <i>d</i> far-red light photoacclimation |
| title | Molecular Evolution of Far-Red Light-Acclimated Photosystem II |
| title_full | Molecular Evolution of Far-Red Light-Acclimated Photosystem II |
| title_fullStr | Molecular Evolution of Far-Red Light-Acclimated Photosystem II |
| title_full_unstemmed | Molecular Evolution of Far-Red Light-Acclimated Photosystem II |
| title_short | Molecular Evolution of Far-Red Light-Acclimated Photosystem II |
| title_sort | molecular evolution of far red light acclimated photosystem ii |
| topic | photosynthesis cyanobacteria ancestral sequence reconstruction chlorophyll <i>f</i> chlorophyll <i>d</i> far-red light photoacclimation |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/10/7/1270 |
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