Structural model, physiology and regulation of Slr0006 in Synechocystis PCC 6803.

The slr0006 gene of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 is upregulated at mRNA and protein level under carbon limitation. The T(N11)A motif in the upstream region of slr0006 is a binding site for transcriptional regulator NdhR, and accumulation of the Slr0006 protein in ndhR deletion mutant grown in high CO2 suggests that NdhR may be a negative regulator of slr0006.

A chloroplast-targeted DnaJ protein AtJ8 is negatively regulated by light and has rapid turnover in darkness.

The DnaJ proteins (also called as J proteins, J domain proteins or HSP40 proteins) function as molecular co-chaperones for the HSP70 proteins. We assessed the expression of the small chloroplast-targeted DnaJ protein, the AtJ8 protein, by subjecting the wild type Arabidopsis plants to different illumination conditions. It is shown that the expression of the transcripts and proteins of the ATJ8 gene is primarily regulated at the level of transcription.

Regulatory subunit B'gamma of protein phosphatase 2A prevents unnecessary defense reactions under low light in Arabidopsis.

Light is an important environmental factor that modulates acclimation strategies and defense responses in plants. We explored the functional role of the regulatory subunit B'γ (B'γ) of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) in light-dependent stress responses of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). The predominant form of PP2A consists of catalytic subunit C, scaffold subunit A, and highly variable regulatory subunit B, which determines the substrate specificity of PP2A holoenzymes.

Two proteins homologous to PsbQ are novel subunits of the chloroplast NAD(P)H dehydrogenase.

The PsbQ-like (PQL) proteins 1 and 2, previously shown to be located in the thylakoid lumen of Arabidopsis thaliana, are homologous to PSII oxygen-evolving complex protein PsbQ. Nevertheless, pql mutants showed no defects in PSII but instead the activity of the chloroplast NAD(P)H dehydrogenease (NDH) complex was severely impaired. In line with this observation, the NDH subunits were low in abundance in pql mutants, and, conversely, ndh mutants strongly down-regulated the accumulation of the PQL proteins.

Small chloroplast-targeted DnaJ proteins are involved in optimization of photosynthetic reactions in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Background: DnaJ proteins participate in many metabolic pathways through dynamic interactions with various components of these processes. The role of three small chloroplast-targeted DnaJ proteins, AtJ8 (At1 g80920), AtJ11 (At4 g36040) and AtJ20 (At4 g13830), was investigated here using knock-out mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana. Photochemical efficiency, capacity of CO2 assimilation, stabilization of Photosystem (PS) II dimers and supercomplexes under high light illumination, energy distribution between PSI and PSII and phosphorylation of PSII-LHCII proteins, global gene expression profiles and oxidative stress responses of these DnaJ mutants were analyzed.

AtCYP20-2 is an auxiliary protein of the chloroplast NAD(P)H dehydrogenase complex.

AtCYP20-2 is one of 16 immunophilins in thylakoid lumen. The presence of the isomerase domain in AtCYP20-2, an enrichment of AtCYP20-2 in the stroma membranes and it's co-migration with NAD(P)H dehydrogenase (NDH) in native gels provide evidence that AtCYP20-2 is an auxiliary protein of NDH. When different NDH mutants were studied, AtCYP20-2 was found to be strongly reduced especially in mutants deficient in the membrane domain of NDH, thus suggesting a role in the assembly of NDH hydrophobic domain.

Comparison of the electron transport properties of the psbo1 and psbo2 mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana.

Genome sequence of Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) revealed two psbO genes (At5g66570 and At3g50820) which encode two distinct PsbO isoforms: PsbO1 and PsbO2, respectively. To get insights into the function of the PsbO1 and PsbO2 isoforms in Arabidopsis we have performed systematic and comprehensive investigations of the whole photosynthetic electron transfer chain in the T-DNA insertion mutant lines, psbo1 and psbo2. The absence of the PsbO1 isoform and presence of only the PsbO2 isoform in the psbo1 mutant results in (i) malfunction of both the donor and acceptor sides of Photosystem (PS) II and (ii) high sensitivity of PSII centers to photodamage, thus implying the importance of the PsbO1 isoform for proper structure and function of PSII.

Novel nuclear-encoded subunits of the chloroplast NAD(P)H dehydrogenase complex.

The NAD(P)H dehydrogenase (NDH) complex functions in photosystem I cyclic electron transfer in higher plant chloroplasts and is crucial for plant responses to environmental stress. Chloroplast NDH complex is a close relative to cyanobacterial NDH-1L complex, and all fifteen subunits so far identified in NDH-1L have homologs in the chloroplast NDH complex. Here we report on the identification of two nuclear-encoded proteins NDH48 and NDH45 in higher plant chloroplasts and show their intimate association with the NDH complex.

HIV-1-infected long-term non-progressors have milder mitochondrial impairment and lower mitochondrially-driven apoptosis in peripheral blood mononuclear cells than typical progressors.

Mitochondrial parameters in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and their relationship with mitochondrially-driven PBMC apoptosis were investigated in a group of HIV-1-infected long-term nonprogressors (LTNP) and compared with untreated asymptomatic HIV-1 infected typical progressors (TP) and uninfected healthy controls (HC). Twenty-six LTNP, 27 TP and 31 HC were evaluated. Studies were performed in PBMCs.