We have detected a proteolytic mechanism in chloroplasts that selectively and rapidly degrades the imported small subunit of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase when pools of the chloroplast-synthesized large subunit are depleted. This degradation system is constitutively present and appears to be responsible for precise stoichiometric accumulation of the two subunits of the enzyme. We believe similar proteolytic mechanisms participate in regulating the accumulation of other photosynthetic proteins during chloroplast biogenesis.Ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase [RbuP2Case; 3-phospho-D-glycerate carboxy-lyase (dimerizing), EC 4.1.1.39], the major protein in C3 plants, is localized in the soluble fraction of chloroplasts, where it catalyzes the initial steps in CO2 reduction (1, 2). The RbuP2Case holoenzyme consists of eight copies of each of the 52,000-to 56,000-dalton large subunit and the 12,000-to 15,000-dalton small subunit. Much is known concerning the mode of synthesis of the large subunit within chloroplasts and of the nuclear-encoded small subunit in the cytoplasm. However, many aspects of the regulation of synthesis and the pathway for subunit assembly remain to be elucidated. In particular, the mechanism(s) by which stoichiometric amounts of large and small subunits are produced during chloroplast biogenesis have not been established. In this paper, we provide evidence that, when the small subunit is produced in excess of the large, it is selectively and rapidly degraded by a proteolytic activity that is constitutively present in chloroplasts. MATERIALS 43 Ci/mg at 100% isotopic enrichment; 1 Ci = 37 GBq; ICN Chemical and Radioisotope Division) was added to a final concentration of 1 mCi/ml. The chase periods were begun on addition of a 1/10th vol of 100 mM Na2SO4. At intervals, 100-,ul aliquots were transferred to 900 ul of 100% acetone at 0°C to terminate protein synthesis and degradation. Electrophoresis. Acetone precipitates were dissolved in 2% NaDodSO4/60 mM Tris HCI, pH 8.6/60 mM dithiothreitol/5 mM E-aminocaproic acid/i mM benzamidine/15% (wt/vol) sucrose, and 5-1Al aliquots were removed for radioactivity determination (4). Equal amounts of labeled protein were subjected to electrophoresis in 10-20% (wt/vol) gradient polyacrylamide gels prepared in the buffer system of Laemmli (5). For two-dimensional electrophoresis, the precipitates were dissolved in 2% Ampholines (pH 3.5-10; LKB)/2% Nonidet P-40 (Particle Data Laboratories)/10 mM dithiothreitol/9.5 M urea/10 mM methylamine and subjected to nonequilibrium pH gradient electrophoresis for 1,600 V-hr as described (6), except that the formulation of ampholytes for a pH range of 3.5 to 9.5 (7) was used. Electrophoresis in the second dimension was carried out in the NaDodSO4/polyacrylamide gradient gels described above. Gels were treated for fluorography (8) before exposure to Kodak X-Omat AR film at -70°C.
RESULTSTo study the in vivo events involved in the synthesis of RbuP2Case, we have used Chlamydomonas in pulse-chase ...