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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #122532
Title: CHARACTERISTICS OF D1 PHOTOSYSTEM II REACTION CENTER PROTEIN PHOSPHORYLATION: IDENTIFICATION OF A CALCIUM DEPENDENT PROTEIN KINASE

Author
item SWEGLE, M. - FORMERLY OF PMBL
item RASKIND, A. - WEIZMANN INST. OF SCIENCE
item BOOIJ-JAMES, ISABELLE - UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
item EDELMAN, M. - WEIZMANN INST. OF SCIENCE
item Mattoo, Autar

Submitted to: International Congress of Photosynthesis Brisbane Australia
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/1/2001
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Several photosystem II (PSII) proteins undergo light dependent reversible phosphorylation. However, little is known about the kinases responsible for their phosphorylation. Using as substrate a synthetic peptide mimicking the N-terminus of D1, we have isolated and characterized a thylakoidal protein kinase. The putative D1 kinase is an extrinsic membrane protein of 50 kD with an optimum pH of 7.4, isoelectric point of 5.5, and preference for manganese cations. Several tryptic fragments of the protein were sequenced, based on which we synthesized degenerate oligonucleotide primers to clone the gene from rice, Arabidopsis and Spirodela. The cDNA sequence predicts a protein kinase with a mass of 59 kD based on the entire open reading frame, a size compatible with processing of a primary translation product to produce a mature protein like that recovered from purification of the rice kinase. The protein kinase gene identified shows sequence similarities to members of the family of calcium dependent protein kinases. Spirodela kinase expressed in E. coli as an N-terminal 6-His fusion protein was purified. The purified kinase phosphorylated the N-terminal synthetic D1 peptide, but not LHCII or Rubisco peptides. Work is in progress on the role of CDPK in chloroplast function.