Publications by authors named "Yuichi Yuzawa"
Article Synopsis
- The study focused on a mutant of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, where the monoglucosyldiacylglycerol synthase gene was disrupted and replaced with an Arabidopsis gene, allowing researchers to analyze the effects of lacking monoglucosyldiacylglycerol.
- The researchers found that this mutant was viable and could grow and photosynthesize normally under standard conditions, despite not producing monoglucosyldiacylglycerol, as long as it received sufficient monogalactosyldiacylglycerol from the complementary gene.
- The mutant demonstrated healthy cell structures and similar lipid compositions to the wild type; however,
The photosynthetic membranes of cyanobacteria and chloroplasts of higher plants have remarkably similar lipid compositions. In particular, thylakoid membranes of both cyanobacteria and chloroplasts are composed of galactolipids, of which monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG) is the most abundant, although MGDG biosynthetic pathways are different in these organisms. Comprehensive phylogenetic analysis revealed that MGDG synthase (MGD) homologs of filamentous anoxygenic phototrophs Chloroflexi have a close relationship with MGDs of Viridiplantae (green algae and land plants).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMonogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG), which is conserved in almost all photosynthetic organisms, is the most abundant natural polar lipid on Earth. In plants, MGDG is highly accumulated in the chloroplast membranes and is an important bulk constituent of thylakoid membranes. However, precise functions of MGDG in photosynthesis have not been well understood.
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