Unravelling the regulation pathway of photosynthetic AB-GAPDH
Oxygenic phototrophs perform carbon fixation through the Calvin–Benson cycle. Different mechanisms adjust the cycle and the light–harvesting reactions to rapid environmental changes. Photosynthetic glyceraldehyde–3–phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) is a key enzyme of the cycle. In land plants, different photosynthetic GAPDHs exist: the most abundant formed by hetero-tetramers of A and B–subunits, and the homotetramer A4. Regardless of the subunit composition, GAPDH is the major consumer of photosynthetic NADPH and for this reason is strictly regulated. While A4–GAPDH is regulated by CP12, AB–GAPDH is autonomously regulated through the C-terminal extension (CTE) of B–subunits. Reversible inactivation of AB–GAPDH occurs via oxidation of a cysteine pair located in the CTE, and substitution of NADP(H) with NAD(H) in the cofactor binding domain. These combined conditions lead to a change in the oligomerization state and enzyme inactivation. SEC–SAXS and single–particle cryoEM analysis disclosed the structural basis of this regulatory mechanism. Both approaches revealed that (A2B2)n–GAPDH oligomers with n=1, 2, 4 and 5 co–exist in a dynamic system. B–subunits mediate the contacts between adjacent A2B2 tetramers in A4B4 and A8B8 oligomers. The CTE of each B–subunit penetrates into the active site of a B–subunit of the adjacent tetramer, while the CTE of this subunit moves in the opposite direction, effectively preventing the binding of the substrate 1,3–bisphosphoglycerate in the B–subunits. The whole mechanism is made possible, and eventually controlled, by pyridine nucleotides. In fact, NAD(H) by removing NADP(H) from A–subunits allows the entrance of the CTE in B–subunits active sites and hence inactive oligomer stabilization.