Low Chlorophyll Accumulation A (LCAA) antisense plants were obtained from a screen for genes whose partial down-regulation results in a strong chlorophyll deficiency in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum). The LCAA mutants are affected in a plastid-localized protein of unknown function, which is conserved in cyanobacteria and all photosynthetic eukaryotes. They suffer from drastically reduced lightharvesting complex (LHC) contents, while the accumulation of all other photosynthetic complexes per leaf area is less affected. As the disturbed accumulation of LHC proteins could be either attributable to a defect in LHC biogenesis itself or to a bottleneck in chlorophyll biosynthesis, chlorophyll synthesis rates and chlorophyll synthesis intermediates were measured. LCAA antisense plants accumulate magnesium (Mg) protoporphyrin monomethylester and contain reduced protochlorophyllide levels and a reduced content of CHL27, a subunit of the Mg protoporphyrin monomethylester cyclase. Bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays confirm a direct interaction between LCAA and CHL27. 5-Aminolevulinic acid synthesis rates are increased and correlate with an increased content of glutamyl-transfer RNA reductase. We suggest that LCAA encodes an additional subunit of the Mg protoporphyrin monomethylester cyclase, is required for the stability of CHL27, and contributes to feedback-control of 5-aminolevulinic acid biosynthesis, the rate-limiting step of chlorophyll biosynthesis.Photosynthetic electron transport, CO 2 fixation by the Calvin cycle, and sulfur and nitrogen assimilation all occur within the chloroplasts of photosynthetic eukaryotes, which also harbor several anabolic pathways utilizing the primary photoassimilates, such as amino acid, nucleotide, isoprenoid, and lipid synthesis. Also, the biosynthesis of several important cellular key metabolites, such as chromophores and cofactors required for photosynthesis and respiration, is localized in

The two open reading frames in the Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 genome, sll1214 and sll1874, here designated cycI and cycII, respectively, encode similar proteins, which are involved in the Mg protoporphyrin monomethylester (MgProtoME) cyclase reaction. The impairment of tetrapyrrole biosynthesis was examined by separate inactivation of both cyclase encoding genes followed by analysis of chlorophyll contents, MgProtoME levels and several enzyme activities of tetrapyrrole biosynthesis. We additionally addressed the question, whether the two isoforms can complement cyclase deficiency under normal aerobic and micro-oxic growth conditions in light. A cycII knock-out mutant grew without any adverse symptoms at normal air conditions, but showed MgProtoME accumulation at growth under low oxygen conditions. A complete deletion of cycI failed in spite of mixotrophic growth and low light at both ambient and low oxygen, but resulted in accumulation of 150 and 28 times more MgProtoME, respectively, and circa 60% of the wild-type chlorophyll content. The CycI deficiency induced a feedback-controlled limitation of the metabolic flow in the tetrapyrrole biosynthetic pathway by reduced ALA synthesis and Fe chelatase activity. Ectopic expression of the CycI protein restored the wild-type phenotype in cycI(-) mutant cells under ambient air as well as micro-oxic growth conditions. Overexpressed CycII protein could not compensate for cycI(-) mutation under micro-oxic and aerobic growth conditions, but complemented the cycII knock-out mutant as indicated by wild-type MgProtoME and chlorophyll levels. Our findings indicate the essential contribution of CycI to the cyclase reaction at ambient and low oxygen conditions, while low oxygen conditions additionally require CycII for the cyclase activity.

No abstract