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. 1984 Jul;81(13):4100–4104. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.13.4100

Isolation and characterization of a gene for a major light-harvesting polypeptide from Cyanophora paradoxa

Peggy G Lemaux *,†, Arthur Grossman *
PMCID: PMC345376  PMID: 16593484

Abstract

Antibodies raised against mixtures of phycobilisome polypeptides from the eukaryotic alga Cyanidium caldarium were used in an immunological screen to detect expression of phycobiliprotein genes in an Escherichia coli library containing segments of plastid (chloroplast, cyanelle) DNA from another eukaryotic alga, Cyanophora paradoxa. The four candidate clones obtained were mapped by restriction analysis and found to be overlapping. The clone with the smallest insert (1.4 kilobases) was partially sequenced and a coding region similar to the carboxyl terminus of the phycobiliprotein subunit β-phycocyanin was found. The coding region for the β-phycocyanin gene in C. paradoxa has been mapped to the small single copy region on the cyanelle genome, and its orientation has been determined. A short probe unique to a conserved chromophore binding site shared by at least two phycobiliprotein subunits has now been generated from the carboxyl terminus of the β-phycocyanin gene. This probe may be useful in identifying specific phycobiliprotein subunit genes, β-phycocyanin, β-phycoerythrocyanin, and possibly β-phycoerythrin, in other eukaryotic algae and in prokaryotic cyanobacteria.

Keywords: phycobilisome, β-phycocyanin, immunological screening, chloroplast genes

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