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BIOENERGETICS AND PHOTOSYNTHESIS

Impaired Photosynthesis in Phosphatidylglycerol-Deficient Mutant of Cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC7120 with a Disrupted Gene Encoding a Putative Phosphatidylglycerophosphatase¹

Key Laboratory of Photosynthesis and Environmental Molecular Physiology, Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China (F.W., Z.Y., T.K.); and Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China (F.W.)

Phosphatidylglycerol (PG) is a ubiquitous phospholipid in thylakoid membranes of cyanobacteria and chloroplasts and plays an important role in the structure and function of photosynthetic membranes. The last step of the PG biosynthesis is dephosphorylation of phosphatidylglycerophosphate (PGP) catalyzed by PGP phosphatase. However, the gene-encoding PGP phosphatase has not been identified and cloned from cyanobacteria or higher plants. In this study, we constructed a PG-deficient mutant from cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC7120 with a disrupted gene (alr1715, a gene for Alr1715 protein, GenBank accession no. BAB78081) encoding a putative PGP phosphatase. The obtained mutant showed an approximately 30% reduction in the cellular content of PG. Following the reduction in the PG content, the photoautotrophical growth of the mutant was restrained, and the cellular content of chlorophyll was decreased. The decreases in net photosynthetic and photosystem II (PSII) activities on a cell basis also occurred in this mutant. Simultaneously, the photochemical efficiency of PSII was considerably declined, and less excitation energy was transferred toward PSII. These findings demonstrate that the alr1715 gene of Anabaena sp. PCC7120 is involved in the biosynthesis of PG and essential for photosynthesis.

The author responsible for distribution of materials integral to the findings presented in this article in accordance with the policy described in the Instructions for Authors (www.plantphysiol.org) is: Zhenle Yang (yangzhl{at}ibcas.ac.cn).

Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/doi/10.1104/pp.106.083451.

^* Corresponding author; e-mail yangzhl{at}ibcas.ac.cn; fax 86–10–82594106.

Received May 11, 2006; returned for revision June 15, 2006; accepted June 15, 2006.