PLANT PHYSIOLOGY , Vol 104, Issue 1 235-245, Copyright © 1994 by American Society of Plant Biologists
S1 Destabilization and Higher Sensitivity to Light in Metribuzin-Resistant Mutants
I. Perewoska, A. L. Etienne, T. Miranda and D. Kirilovsky
Biomembranes Vegetales, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Ecole Normale Superieure, 46 Rue d'Ulm, 75230, Paris, France (I.P., A.-L.E., D.K.)
Mutations in the secondary quinone electron acceptor (QB) pocket of the D1
protein conferring a modification on the donor side of photosystem II
(PSII) have been characterized by gene cloning and sequencing in two
metribuzin-resistant mutants of Synechocystis PCC 6714. The mutations
induce different herbicide resistances: in M30, a point mutation at the
codon 248, isoleucine to threonine, results in resistance only to
metribuzin; in M35, a single mutation, Ala251Val, confers metribuzin,
atrazine, and ioxynil resistance. As with other herbicide-resistant
mutants, M30 and M35 present modifications in the electron transfer between
the primary quinone electron acceptor (QA) and QB. In addition, they have a
modified oscillatory pattern of oxygen emission: after dark adaptation, the
maximum oscillation is shifted by one flash. Both mutants have a higher
concentration of the redox state in the dark-adapted state than the wild
type. The mutations render the oxygen-evolving system more accessible to
cell reductants. The mutation Ala251Val also confers to PSII an increased
sensitivity to high light. We have already demonstrated that under light
stress a double mutant, AzV (Ala251Val, Phe211Ser), lost the ability to
recover the PSII activity sooner than the wild type. Here, we confirm that
the modification of the alanine-251 is responsible for this specific
sensitivity to high light. We conclude that specific mutations of the QB
pocket modify the behavior of the cells under light stress and have an
effect on the structure of the D1 protein in the other side of the
membrane.