Switching an Individual Phycobilisome off and on

Michal Gwizdala*, Joshua L. Botha, Adjélé Wilson, Diana Kirilovsky, Rienk Van Grondelle, Tjaart P.J. Krüger

*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Photosynthetic organisms have found various smart ways to cope with unexpected changes in light conditions. In many cyanobacteria, the lethal effects of a sudden increase in light intensity are mitigated mainly by the interaction between phycobilisomes (PBs) and the orange carotenoid protein (OCP). The latter senses high light intensities by means of photoactivation and triggers thermal energy dissipation from the PBs. Due to the brightness of their emission, PBs can be characterized at the level of individual complexes. Here, energy dissipation from individual PBs was reversibly switched on and off using only light and OCP. We reveal the presence of quasistable intermediate states during the binding and unbinding of OCP to PB, with a spectroscopic signature indicative of transient decoupling of some of the PB rods during docking of OCP. Real-time control of emission from individual PBs has the potential to contribute to the development of new super-resolution imaging techniques.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2426-2432
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Physical Chemistry Letters
Volume9
Issue number9
Early online date24 Apr 2018
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 3 May 2018

Funding

The authors would like to thank Michael Gruber, Lijin Tian, and Bart van Oort for fruitful discussions. M.G. acknowledges funding from the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) via a Long-Term Fellowship and from the Claude Leon Foundation via a Postdoctoral Fellowship. J.L.B. was supported by the VU University Amsterdam−NRF South Africa Desmond Tutu Programme. The work of M.G., T.P.J.K., and R.v.G. was supported by an advanced investigator grant (267333, PHOTPROT) from the European Research Council. R.v.G. gratefully acknowledges his “Academy Professor” grant from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). The work of A.W. and D.K. was supported by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (Project CYANOPRO-TECT), the Centre National de la Recherché Scientifique (CNRS), the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique (CEA), the HARVEST EU FP7Marie Curie Research Training Network, Phycosource, and the French Infrastructure for Integrated Structural Biology (Grant ANR-10-INSB-05-01). T.P.J.K. was supported by the National Equipment Programme of the National Research Foundation (NRF) (Grant N00500, Project 87990), the NRF Thuthuka programme (Grant N00726, Project 94107), and the Photonics Initiative of South Africa.

FundersFunder number
Commissariat à l’Energie AtomiqueCEA
HARVEST EU FP7Marie Curie Research Training Network
NRF South Africa Desmond Tutu Programme
Photonics Initiative of South Africa
VU University Amsterdam
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Seventh Framework Programme267333
National Research FoundationN00500, 94107, N00726, 87990
European Molecular Biology Laboratory
European Research Council
Claude Leon Foundation
Agence Nationale de la Recherche
Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
French Infrastructure for Integrated Structural BiologyANR-10-INSB-05-01

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