Households, Financial Distress, and Predatory Lending: an Experimental Study

A substantial part of households and micro enterprises, particularly in developing countriesincluding Indonesia, did not have access to formal financial institutions which thenlead them to borrow money from illegal loan providers. Using an experimental study, wetested whether predatory loan, an illegal short-term loan with high interest rate, waspreferable or not by comparing with pawnshop loan, bank loan and household's limitedsaving when households confront with financial distress. We divided the participantsinto three groups: lower low, low, and upper low income. We found that predatory loanwas preferable especially for lower low and low income group. Result also confirmedthat even if the predatory loan charge was increased, the lower low- and low-incomegroups still prefer to ease their financial distress through predatory loans. Moreover, thelonger the duration of the predatory loan, the higher its probability to be chosen as afunding source in times of household financial distress

Chlorophyll f synthesis by a super-rogue photosystem II complex

Certain cyanobacteria synthesize chlorophyll molecules (Chl d and Chl f) that absorb in the far-red region of the solar spectrum, thereby extending the spectral range of photosynthetically active radiation1,2. The synthesis and introduction of these far-red chlorophylls into the photosynthetic apparatus of plants might improve the efficiency of oxygenic photosynthesis, especially in far-red enriched environments, such as in the lower regions of the canopy3. Production of Chl f requires the ChlF subunit, also known as PsbA4 (ref. 4) or super-rogue D1 (ref. 5), a paralogue of the D1 subunit of photosystem II (PSII) which, together with D2, bind cofactors involved in the light-driven oxidation of water. Current ideas suggest that ChlF oxidizes Chl a to Chl f in a homodimeric ChlF reaction centre (RC) complex and represents a missing link in the evolution of the heterodimeric D1/D2 RC of PSII (refs. 4,6). However, unambiguous biochemical support for this proposal is lacking. Here, we show that ChlF can substitute for D1 to form modified PSII complexes capable of producing Chl f. Remarkably, mutation of just two residues in D1 converts oxygen-evolving PSII into a Chl f synthase. Overall, we have identified a new class of PSII complex, which we term ‘super-rogue’ PSII, with an unexpected role in pigment biosynthesis rather than water oxidation

Assembly of D1/D2 complexes of photosystem II: binding of pigments and a network of auxiliary proteins

Photosystem II (PSII) is the multi-subunit light-driven oxidoreductase that drives photosynthetic electron transport using electrons extracted from water. To investigate the initial steps of PSII assembly, we used strains of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 arrested at early stages of PSII biogenesis and expressing affinity-tagged PSII subunits to isolate PSII reaction center assembly (RCII) complexes and their precursor D1 and D2 modules (D1mod and D2mod). RCII preparations isolated using either a His-tagged D2 or a FLAG-tagged PsbI subunit contained the previously described RCIIa and RCII* complexes that differ with respect to the presence of the Ycf39 assembly factor and high-light-inducible proteins (Hlips) and a larger complex consisting of RCIIa bound to monomeric PSI. All RCII complexes contained the PSII subunits D1, D2, PsbI, PsbE, and PsbF and the assembly factors rubredoxin A (RubA) and Ycf48, but we also detected PsbN, Slr1470, and the Slr0575 proteins, which all have plant homologs. The RCII preparations also contained prohibitins/stomatins (Phbs) of unknown function and FtsH protease subunits. RCII complexes were active in light-induced primary charge separation and bound chlorophylls, pheophytins, beta-carotenes, and heme. The isolated D1mod consisted of D1/PsbI/Ycf48 with some Ycf39 and Phb3, while D2mod contained D2/cytochrome b559 with co-purifying PsbY, Phb1, Phb3, FtsH2/FtsH3, CyanoP, and Slr1470. As stably bound chlorophyll was detected in D1mod but not D2mod, formation of RCII appears to be important for stable binding of most of the chlorophylls and both pheophytins. We suggest that chlorophyll can be delivered to RCII from either monomeric PSI or Ycf39/Hlip complexes