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. 1987 Jun;169(6):2675–2684. doi: 10.1128/jb.169.6.2675-2684.1987

Isolation and characterization of light-regulated phycobilisome linker polypeptide genes and their transcription as a polycistronic mRNA.

T L Lomax, P B Conley, J Schilling, A R Grossman
PMCID: PMC212156  PMID: 3108238

Abstract

Several cyanobacteria adjust both the phycobiliprotein and linker protein composition of the phycobilisome, a light-harvesting complex in cyanobacteria and some eucaryotic algae, to maximize absorption of prevalent wavelengths of light. This process is called complementary chromatic adaptation. We sequenced the amino terminus of a linker polypeptide which is associated with phycocyanin and accumulates to high levels during growth of the cyanobacterium Fremyella diplosiphon in red light. A mixed oligonucleotide encoding a region of this amino terminus was synthesized and used to identify a fragment of F. diplosiphon genomic DNA encoding the linker polypeptide. This linker gene was located between two other linker genes and contiguous to the red-light-induced phycocyanin gene set. Sequences of all three linker genes are presented. These genes were transcribed together onto a large polycistronic mRNA which also encoded the red-light-induced phycocyanin subunits. The relationship of this transcript to the biogenesis of the phycobilisome when F. diplosiphon is grown under different conditions of illumination is discussed.

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Selected References

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