Changes in Phosphorylation Status of Wheat Plastid Polypeptides as Influenced by Light, Calcium and Cyclic AMP

The polypeptides of etioplast and chloroplast fractions, purified on Percoll discontinuous gradient, were phosphorylated in vitro using (γ-³²P)ATP, resolved by SDS-PAGE and autoradiographed. In general, about 15-18 phosphopolypeptides in the range of 14-150 kD were distinctly visible in autoradiograms of both organelle fractions with varying degree of radiolabel incorporation. Although short-term irradiation with red or far-red light did not have any significant effect on phosphorylation status of etioplast polypeptides, in vivo irradiation with 1 h white light, followed by in vitro phosphorylation, decreased phosphorylation of a 116 kD polypeptide and increased the phosphorylation of polypeptides of 38 kD and a doublet around 20 kD. Strikingly, the phosphorylation status of 116 kD etioplast polypeptide was adversely affected by Ca²⁺ as well, and this phosphopolypeptlde was not distinctly visible in the autoradiogram of the chloroplast fraction proteins. However, in vitro phosphorylation of 98, 57 and 50 kD polypeptides of both etioplast and chloroplast fractions was found to be Ca²⁺ dependent. Unlike Ca²⁺, 3′,5′-cyclic AMP down-regulated the phosphorylation of several polypeptides of both etioplasts and chloroplasts, including 98 and 50 kD, and up-regulated the phosphorylation of 32 and 57 kD polypeptides. The significance of these observations on changes in phosphoprotein profile of etioplasts and chloroplasts, as influenced by light, Ca²⁺ and cyclic nucleotides, has been discussed.     

Distribution of chloroplast coupling factor (CF1) particles on plastid membranes during development

Samples of internal membrane systems separated from lysates of intact plastids from dark grown Avena sativa L. (vars, Cooba and Mostyn) and Hordeum vulgare L. (vars, Himalaya and Deba Abed) given different periods of illumination before isolation were assayed for trypsin-activated Ca²⁺-dependent ATPase activities and also examined in the electron microscope after treatment in the manner described by Oleszko and Moudinanakis (1974) which assists the visualization of the chloroplast coupling factor (CF₁) particles. Concentrations of membrane-attached CF₁ particles were not observed on the membrane surfaces of the prolamellar bodies (PLBs) proper but only on the attached extruded lamellar membranes. Increasing lengths of illumination followed by plastid isolation and subsequent membrane separation had the effect of progressively increasing the mean distance between these individual lamellar-attached CF₁ particles. Measurements of trypsin-activated Ca²⁺-dependent ATPase activities during similar developmental regimes indicated that functions associated with CE₁ particles are relative constant and largely independent of the period of illumination if the values were expressed on a per plastid basis indicating that assembly of CF₁ particles may take place in either etioplasts, etiochloroplasts or mature chloroplasts.Abbreviations PLB prolamellar body - EDTA ethylene-diaminetetra-acetic acid - CF₁ chloroplast coupling factor particles - ATPase adenosine triphosphatase     

Differential Synthesis of Photosystem Cores and Light-Harvesting Antenna during Proplastid to Chloroplast Development in Spirodela oligorrhiza

Proplastids and etioplasts are common starting points for monitoring chloroplast development in higher plants. Although proplastids are the primary precursor of chloroplasts, most proplastid to chloroplast systems are cumbersome to study temporally. Conversely, the etioplast to chloroplast transition is initiated by light and is readily examined as a function of time. Etioplasts, however, are found mostly in plants germinated in the dark and are not an obligatory step in chloroplast development. We have chosen to study chloroplast ontogeny in Spirodela oligorrhiza (Kurtz) Hegelm (a C₃-monocot) because of its unique ability to grow indefinitely in the dark. Ultrastructural, physiological, and molecular evidence is presented in support of a temporal, light-triggered proplastid to chloroplast transition in Spirodela. The dark-grown plants are devoid of chlorophyll, and upon illumination synchronously green over a 3- to 5-day period. Synthesis of chloroplast proteins involved in photosynthesis is coincident with thylakoid assembly, chlorophyll accumulation, and appearance of CO₂ fixation activity. Interestingly, the developmental sequence in Spirodela was slow enough to reveal that biosynthesis of the D1 photosystem II reaction center protein precedes biosynthesis of the major light-harvesting antenna proteins. This, coupled with the high chlorophyll a/b ratio observed early in development, indicated that reaction center assembly occurred prior to accumulation of the light-harvesting complexes. Thus, with Spirodela one can study proplastid to chloroplast conversions temporally in higher plants and follow the process on a time scale that enables a detailed dissection of plastid maturation processes.     

Identification of the Ndh (NAD(P)H-plastoquinone-oxidoreductase) complex in etioplast membranes of barley: changes during photomorphogenesis of chloroplasts

In the last few years the presence in thylakoid membranes of chloroplasts of a NAD(P)H-plastoquinone oxidoreductase complex (Ndh complex) homologous to mitochondrial complex I has been well established. Herein, we report the identification of the Ndh complex in barley etioplast membranes. Two plastid DNA-encoded polypeptides of the Ndh complex (NDH-A and NDH-F) were relatively more abundant in etioplast membranes than in thylakoids from greening chloroplasts. Conversion of etioplast into chloroplast, after light exposure of barley seedlings grown in the dark, was accompanied by a decrease in the NADH dehydrogenase activity associated to plastid membranes. Using native-PAGE and immunolabelling techniques we have determined that a NADH specific dehydrogenase activity associated with plastid membranes, which was more active in etioplasts than in greening chloroplasts, contained the NDH-A and NDH-F polypeptides. These results complemented by those obtained through blue-native-PAGE indicated that NDH-A and NDH-F polypeptides are part of a 580 kDa NADH dependent dehydrogenase complex present in etioplast membranes. This finding proves that accumulation of the Ndh complex is independent of light. The decrease in the relative levels and specific activity of this complex during the transition from etioplast to chloroplasts was accompanied by a parallel decrease in the specific activity of peroxidase associated to plastid membranes. Based on the mentioned observations it is proposed that an electron transport chain from NADH to H2O2 could be active in barley etioplasts.     

A coupling factor for photosynthetic phosphorylation from plastids of light- and dark-grown maize

1. Maize chloroplasts contain a trypsin-, dithiothreitol-, and Ca²⁺-activated ATPase. This enzyme, which can serve as a coupling factor for photosynthetic phosphorylation, differs slightly in a few properties but in general resembles a similar one in spinach plastids which was described earlier by others.

2. Maize etioplasts (immature plastids in dark-grown plants) also contain this ATPase, and it is shown that NaCl-EDTA extracts of etioplasts can restore photosynthetic phosphorylation activity to depleted green membranes of chloroplasts.

3. Electron microscopy of maize etioplast and chloroplast membranes demonstrates the presence of protruding knobs, approx. 90 Å in diameter. Removal and reassociation of knobs with membranes can be correlated with the ability to carry on photosynthetic phosphorylation.

4. Most or possibly all of the coupling factor (measured as ATPase) activity of a chloroplast may be present in the etioplast from which it develops. The photosynthetic membrane of the chloroplast can be formed in stages.

5. The significance of these observations is discussed with regard to membrane formation in general and plastid membrane development in particular.     

Plastid development in primary leaves of Phaseolus vulgaris. Development of plastid adenosine triphosphatase activity during greening.

The etioplasts of dark-grown bean leaves showed ATPase (adenosine triphosphatase) activity which had a pH optimum of 8.5, was stimulated by dithiothreitol and unaffected by light-triggering. Bean chloroplasts showed a low activity of dark-induced ATPase with a pH optimum of 8.5 and a substantial amount of light-triggered activity with a pH optimum of 8.0. The light-triggered activity depended on dithiothreitol and Mg2+ and was promoted by phenazine methosulphate. Light-triggered ATPase activity was completely inhibited by 20mum-dicyclohexylcarbodi-imide. Etioplasts developed light-triggered ATPase activity in response to 30 min illumination of the etiolated leaves. During the 48 h of light-induced greening of dark-grown leaves there was a 70% increase of the chloroplast ATPase activity found after light-triggering and a 30% fall in the dark-induced activity, both expressed on a per leaf basis. As the larger part of these changes occurred during the first 30 min of illumination, it is concluded that most or all of the chloroplast ATPase was present in the etioplast, a conclusion identical with that of Lockshin et al. (1971) for maize. During 48 h of greening there was a tenfold increase in the amount of thylakoid membrane in the leaf together with an 83% fall in the ATPase activity per m2 of thylakoid membrane, measured after light-triggering.     

Chloroplast Integrity and ATP-Dependent CO(2) Fixation in Spinacia oleracea

Washed whole chloroplasts of Spinacia oleracea isolated and assayed in a tris (hydroxymethyl aminomethane)-HCl buffered sucrose solution exhibited low dark CO₂ fixing activity, whereas washed whole chloroplasts isolated in the same buffer but assayed in that buffer without sucrose exhibited much greater dark CO₂ fixing activity. The lowered activity could be attributed to the impermeability of the chloroplast membrane to ribose-5-phosphate or adenosine triphosphate. The preservation of the integrity of the chloroplast membrane, as reflected by its impermeability to either or both of the abovementioned compounds, was measured by the fixation of ¹⁴CO₂ into acid-stable products in the presence of ribose-5-phosphate and adenosine triphosphate by the whole chloroplast as compared with fixation by the chloroplast extract. An effect (i.e., apparent resistance to the passage of ribose-5-phosphate or adenosine-5-triphosphate into the chloroplast) similar to, but less pronounced than, that produced by the presence of sucrose in the isolation medium was observed upon the addition of MnCl₂ or CaCl₂ to the buffered sucrose isolation medium. The addition of KCl enhanced slightly the effect produced by addition of sucrose alone to the isolation medium. The presence of MgCl₂ in the isolation medium, however, either caused the chloroplasts to become leaky or more fragile since more of the activity of the carboxylative phase enzymes appeared in the cytoplasm. When a mixture of all of the metal ions was added to the buffered sucrose suspending medium, the chloroplasts exhibited the same response observed with MgCl₂ alone. The addition of ethylene diaminetetraacetate or dithiothreitol appeared to alter the permeability of the chloroplast membrane nonspecifically when the assay was conducted in the absence of sucrose. Specific activities (μmoles CO₂ fixed/mg chlorophyll × hr) as high as 329.6 have been observed for dark fixation by chloroplasts. The phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase activity in the chloroplasts was only one-seventh that of ribulose diphosphate carboxylase. The phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase activity in the cytoplasm was 5 times that of the chloroplasts.     

Chloroplast maintenance and partial differentiation in vitro

Tissue homogenates, etioplasts, and developing chloroplasts were prepared from cucumber (Cumucis sativus L.) cotyledons in tris-sucrose. They were incubated aerobically in the dark or in the light at pH 7.7 in the presence or absence of a cofactor mixture containing coenzyme A, glutathione, potassium phosphate, methyl alcohol, magnesium, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, and adenosine triphosphate. These cofactors were previously shown to be essential for protochlorophyll and chlorophyll biosynthesis. Ultrastructural changes were monitored by electron microscopy. The following observations were made. (a) Crude homogenates contained agents which degraded etioplasts and developing chloroplasts. (b) Added cofactors were essential for the maintenance of the membrane structure; they were also implicated in the transformation of the prolamellar body in the absence and presence of light. (c) Light pretreatment of the cotyledons improved the maintenance of the developing chloroplast membranes during subsequent in vitro incubation. (d) In the presence of the cofactors, grana formation appeared to take place in the absence of nuclear-cytoplasmic control.     

Origin and developmental changes of envelope proteins and translocator activities from plastids of Secale cereale L.

To determine the sites of synthesis of chloroplast-envelope proteins, we have analysed several enzyme and translocator functions ascribed to the envelope membranes, and investigated the envelope polypeptide composition of plastids isolated from 70S ribosome-deficient leaves of rye (Secale cereale L.) generated by growing the plants at a temperature of 32°C. Since the ribosomedeficient plastids are also achlorophyllous in light-grown leaves, not only were chloroplasts from mature, green leaves used for comparison, but also those from yellowing, aged leaves as well as etioplasts from dark-grown leaves raised at a temperature of 22° C. A majority of the plastidenvelope polypeptides appeared to be of cytoplasmic origin. The envelopes of ribosome-deficient plastids possessed ATPase (EC 3.6.1.3) activity; this was not, however, dependent on divalent cations, in contrast to the Mn²⁺- or Mg²⁺-dependent ATPase which is associated with chloroplast envelopes. Adenylate kinase (EC 2.7.4.3) was present in the stromal fraction of ribosome-deficient plastids and the stromal form of this enzyme is, therefore, of cytoplasmic origin. In contrast to previous findings, adenylate kinase was not, however, specifically associated with the chloroplast-envelope membranes, either in rye or in spinach. Measurements of the uptake of l-[¹⁴C]-malate into ribosome-deficient plastids indicated the presence and cytoplasmic origin of the dicarboxylate translocator. Malate uptake into rye etioplasts was, however, low. The phosphate translocator was assayed by the uptake of 3-phospho-[¹⁴C]glycerate. While rapid 3-phosphoglycerate uptake was observed for rye chloroplasts and etioplasts, it was hardly detectable for ribosome-deficient, plastids and rather low for chloroplasts from aged leaves. A polypeptide of M _r approx. 30000 ascribed to the phosphate translocator was greatly reduced in the envelope patterns of ribosome-deficient plastids and of chloroplasts from aged leaves.     

Reconstitution of the energy-linked transhydrogenase activity in membranes from a mutant strain of Escherichia coli K12 lacking magnesium ion- or calcium ion-stimulated adenosine triphosphatase

1. We have isolated a mutant of Escherichia coli K12 (strain AN295) that forms de-repressed amounts of Mg²⁺,Ca²⁺-stimulated adenosine triphosphatase. 2. The Mg²⁺,Ca²⁺-stimulated triphosphatase activity was separated from membrane preparations from strain AN295 by extraction with 5mm-Tris–HCl buffer containing EDTA and dithiothreitol, resulting in a loss of the ATP-dependent transhydrogenase activity. The non-energy-linked transhydrogenase activity remained in the membrane residue. 3. The solubilized Mg²⁺,Ca²⁺-stimulated adenosine triphosphatase activity from strain AN295 was partially purified by repeated gel filtration. The addition of the purified Mg²⁺,Ca²⁺-stimulated adenosine triphosphatase to the membrane residue from strain AN295 reactivated the ATP-dependent transhydrogenase activity. 4. Strain AN296, lacking Mg²⁺,Ca²⁺-stimulated adenosine triphosphatase activity, was derived by transducing the mutant allele, uncA401, into strain AN295. The ATP-dependent transhydrogenase activity was lost but the non-energy linked transhydrogenase was retained. 5. The ATP-dependent transhydrogenase activity in membrane preparations from strain AN296 (uncA⁻) could not be re-activated by the purified Mg²⁺,Ca²⁺-stimulated adenosine triphosphatase from strain AN295. However, after extraction by 5mm-Tris–HCl buffer containing EDTA and dithiothreitol, the ATP-dependent transhydrogenase activity could be re-activated by the addition of the purified Mg²⁺,Ca²⁺-stimulated adenosine triphosphatase from strain AN295 to the membrane residue from strain AN296 (uncA⁻).     

Adenosine 5'-sulphatophosphate kinase activity in spinach leaf tissue

1. An F⁻-insensitive 3′-nucleotidase was purified from spinach leaf tissue; the enzyme hydrolysed 3′-AMP, 3′-CMP and adenosine 3′-phosphate 5′-sulphatophosphate but not adenosine 5′-nucleotides nor PP_i. The pH optimum of the enzyme was 7.5; K_m (3′-AMP) was approx. 0.8mm and K_m (3′-CMP) was approx. 3.3mm. 3′-Nucleotidase activity was not associated with chloroplasts. Purified Mg²⁺-dependent pyrophosphatase, free from F⁻-insensitive 3′-nucleotidase, catalysed some hydrolysis of 3′-AMP; this activity was F⁻-sensitive. 2. Adenosine 5′-sulphatophosphate kinase activity was demonstrated in crude spinach extracts supplied with 3′-AMP by the synthesis of the sulphate ester of 2-naphthol in the presence of purified phenol sulphotransferase; purified ATP sulphurylase and pyrophosphatase were also added to synthesize adenosine 5′-sulphatophosphate. Adenosine 5′-sulphatophosphate kinase activity was associated with chloroplasts and was released by sonication. 3. Isolated chloroplasts synthesized adenosine 3′-phosphate 5′-sulphatophosphate from sulphate and ATP in the presence of a 3′-nucleotide; the formation of adenosine 5′-sulphatophosphate was negligible. In the absence of a 3′-nucleotide the synthesis of adenosine 3′-phosphate 5′-sulphatophosphate was negligible, but the formation of adenosine 5′-sulphatophosphate was readily detected. Some properties of the synthesis of adenosine 3′-phosphate 5′-sulphatophosphate by isolated chloroplasts are described. 4. Adenosine 3′-phosphate 5′-sulphatophosphate, synthesized by isolated chloroplasts, was characterized by specific enzyme methods, electrophoresis and i.r. spectrophotometry. 5. Isolated chloroplasts catalysed the incorporation of sulphur from sulphate into cystine/cysteine; the incorporation was enhanced by 3′-AMP and l-serine. It was concluded that adenosine 3′-phosphate 5′-sulphatophosphate is an intermediate in the incorporation of sulphur from sulphate into cystine/cysteine.     

Localization of Galactolipid Biosynthesis in Etioplasts Isolated from Dark-Grown Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Etioplasts were isolated from leaves of dark-grown wheat (Triticum aestivum L. var Starke II). Galactolipid biosynthesis was assayed in an envelope-rich fraction and in the fraction containing the rest of the etioplast membranes by measuring incorporation of ¹⁴C from uridine-diphospho[¹⁴C]galactose into monogalactosyl diacylglycerol and digalactosyl diacylglycerol. More than half of the galactolipid biosynthetic capability was found in the fraction of inner etioplast membranes. This fraction was subfractioned into fractions enriched in prolamellar bodies and membrane vesicles (prothylakoids), respectively. All membrane fractions obtained from etioplasts were able to carry out galactolipid biosynthesis, although the activity was very low in prolamellar body-enriched fractions. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed markedly different polypeptide patterns between the different fractions. It is concluded that the capability of galactolipid biosynthesis of etioplasts probably is not restricted to the envelope, but is also present in the inner membranes of this plastid.     

Isolation of dihydroxyacetone phosphate reductase from dunaliella chloroplasts and comparison with isozymes from spinach leaves

A dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP) reductase has been isolated in 50% yield from Dunaliella tertiolecta by rapid chromatography on diethylaminoethyl cellulose. The activity was located in the chloroplasts. The enzyme was cold labile, but if stored with 2 molar glycerol, most of the activity was restored at 30°C after 20 minutes. The spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) reductase isoforms were not activated by heat treatment. Whereas the spinach chloroplast DHAP reductase isoform was stimulated by leaf thioredoxin, the enzyme from Dunaliella was stimulated by reduced Escherichia coli thioredoxin. The reductase from Dunaliella was insensitive to surfactants, whereas the higher plant reductases were completely inhibited by traces of detergents. The partially purified, cold-inactivated reductase from Dunaliella was reactivated and stimulated by 25 millimolar Mg²⁺ or by 250 millimolar salts, such as NaCl or KCl, which inhibited the spinach chloroplast enzyme. Phosphate at 3 to 10 millimolar severely inhibited the algal enzyme, whereas phosphate stimulated the isoform in spinach chloroplasts. Phosphate inhibition of the algal reductase was partially reversed by the addition of NaCl or MgCl₂ and totally by both. In the presence of 10 millimolar phosphate, 25 millimolar MgCl₂, and 100 millimolar NaCl, reduced thioredoxin causes a further twofold stimulation of the algal enzyme. The Dunaliella reductase utilized either NADH or NADPH with the same pH maximum at about 7.0. The apparent K_m (NADH) was 74 micromolar and K_m (NADPH) was 81 micromolar. Apparent V_max was 1100 μmoles DHAP reduced per hour per milligram chlorophyll for NADH, but due to NADH inhibition highest measured values were 350 to 400. The DHAP reductase from spinach chloroplasts exhibited little activity with NADPH above pH 7.0. Thus, the spinach chloroplast enzyme appears to use NADH in vivo, whereas the chloroplast enzyme from Dunaliella or the cytosolic isozyme from spinach may utilize either nucleotide.     

Localization of Adenosine Triphosphatase Activity on the Chloroplast Envelope in Tendrils of Pisum sativum

When samples of pea tendril tissue were incubated in the Wachstein-Meisel medium for the demonstration of adenosine triphosphatases, deposits of lead reaction product were localized between the membranes of the chloroplast envelope. The presence of Mg²⁺ was necessary for adenosine triphosphatase activity, and Ca²⁺ could not substitute for this requirement. Varying the pH of incubation to 5.5 or 9.4 inhibited enzyme activity, as did the addition of p-chloromercuribenzoic acid or N-ethylmaleimide. The adenosine triphosphatase was apparently inactivated or degraded when the plants were grown in the dark for 24 hours prior to incubation. The enzyme was substrate-specific for adenosine triphosphate; no reaction was obtained with adenosine diphosphate, uridine triphosphate, inosine triphosphate, p-nitrophenyl phosphate, and sodium β-glycerophosphate. Sites of nonspecific depositions of lead are described. The adenosine triphosphatase on the chloroplast envelope may be involved in the light-induced contraction of this organelle.     

Protein synthesis in chloroplasts. Characteristics and products of protein synthesis in vitro in etioplasts and developing chloroplasts from pea leaves.

The function of plastid ribosomes in pea (Pisum sativum L.) was investigated by characterizing the products of protein synthesis in vitro in plastids isolated at different stages during the transition from etioplast to chloroplast. Etioplasts and plastids isolated after 24, 48 and 96h of greening in continuous white light, use added ATP to incorporate labelled amino acids into protein. Plastids isolated from greening leaves can also use light as the source of energy for protein synthesis. The labelled polypeptides synthesized in isolated plastids were analysed by electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulphate-ureapolyacrylamide gels. Six polypeptides are synthesized in etioplasts with ATP as energy source. Only one of these polypeptides is present in a 150 000g supernatant fraction. This polypeptide has been identified as the large subunit of Fraction I protein (3-phospho-D-glycerate carboxylyase EC 4.1.1.39) by comparing the tryptic 'map' of its L-(35S)methionine-labelled peptides with the tryptic 'map' of large subunit peptides from Fraction I labelled with L-(35S)methionine in vivo. The same gel pattern of six polypeptides is seen when plastids isolated from greening leaves are incubated with either added ATP or light as the energy source. However, the rates of synthesis of particular polypeptides are different in plastids isolated at different stages of the etioplast to chloroplast transition. The results support the idea that plastid ribosomes synthesize only a small number of proteins, and that the number and molecular weight of these proteins does not alter during the formation of chloroplasts from etioplasts.     

Photosynthetic Activity of Chloroplasts Isolated From Bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon L.), a Species With a High Photosynthetic Capacity

Chloroplasts have been isolated from bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon L.) leaves and assayed for photophosphorylation and electron transport activity. These chloroplasts actively synthesize adenosine triphosphate during cyclic electron flow with phenazine methosulfate and noncyclic electron flow concurrent with the reduction of such Hill oxidants as nicotinamide adenosine dinucleotide phosphate, cytochrome c, and ferricyanide. Apparent Km values for the cofactors of photophosphorylation have been determined to be 5 × 10⁻⁵ M for phosphate and 2.5 × 10⁻⁵ M for adenosine diphosphate. The influence of light intensity on photophosphorylation has been studied and the molar ratio of cyclic to noncyclic phosphorylation calculated. It is concluded that the high photosynthetic capacity of bermudagrass leaves probably could be supported by the photophosphorylation capacities indicated in these chloroplast studies and the anomalous lack of data in chlorolast studies on the production of sufficient reductant for CO₂ assimilation at high light intensities has been noted.