Adaptation to oxygen: Role of terminal oxidases in photosynthesis initiation in the purple photosynthetic bacterium, rubrivivax gelatinosus

cited By 17International audienceThe appearance of oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere via oxygenic photosynthesis required strict anaerobes and obligate phototrophs to cope with the presence of this toxic molecule. Here we show that in the anoxygenic phototroph Rubrivivax gelatinosus, the terminal oxidases (cbb3, bd, and caa3) expand the range of ambient oxygen tensions under which the organism can initiate photosynthesis. Unlike the wild type, the cbb 3-/bd- double mutant can start photosynthesis only in deoxygenated medium or when oxygen is removed, either by sparging cultures with nitrogen or by co-inoculation with strict aerobes bacteria. In oxygenated environments, this mutant survives nonphotosynthetically until the O2 tension is reduced. The cbb3 and bd oxidases are therefore required not only for respiration but also for reduction of the environmental O2 pressure prior to anaerobic photosynthesis. Suppressor mutations that restore respiration simultaneously restore photosynthesis in nondeoxygenated medium. Furthermore, induction of photosystem in the cbb3- mutant led to a highly unstable strain. These results demonstrate that photosynthetic metabolism in environments exposed to oxygen is critically dependent on the O2-detoxifying action of terminal oxidases. © 2010 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc

Self diffusion and spectral modifications of a membrane protein, the Rubrivivax gelatinosus LH2 complex, incorporated into a monoolein cubic phase.

The light-harvesting complex LH2 from a purple bacterium, Rubrivivax gelatinosus, has been incorporated into the Q230 cubic phase of monoolein. We measured the self-diffusion of LH2 in detergent solution and in the cubic phase by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching. We investigated also the absorption and fluorescence properties of this oligomeric membrane protein in the cubic phase, in comparison with its beta-octyl glucoside solution. In these experiments, native LH2 and LH2 labeled by a fluorescent marker were used. The results indicate that the inclusion of LH2 into the cubic phase induced modifications in the carotenoid and B800 binding sites. Despite these significant perturbations, the protein seems to keep an oligomeric structure. The relevance of these observations for the possible crystallization of this protein in the cubic phase is discussed