Two Unrelated 8-Vinyl Reductases Ensure Production of Mature Chlorophylls in Acaryochloris marina
ABSTRACTThe major photopigment of the cyanobacteriumAcaryochloris marinais chlorophylld, while its direct biosynthetic precursor, chlorophylla, is also present in the cell. These pigments, along with the majority of chlorophylls utilized by oxygenic phototrophs, carry an ethyl group at the C-8 position of the molecule, having undergone reduction of a vinyl group during biosynthesis. Two unrelated classes of 8-vinyl reductase involved in the biosynthesis of chlorophylls are known to exist, BciA and BciB. The genome ofAcaryochloris marinacontains open reading frames (ORFs) encoding proteins displaying high sequence similarity to BciA or BciB, although they are annotated as genes involved in transcriptional control (nmrA) and methanogenesis (frhB), respectively. These genes were introduced into an 8-vinyl chlorophylla-producing ΔbciBstrain ofSynechocystissp. strain PCC 6803, and both were shown to restore synthesis of the pigment with an ethyl group at C-8, demonstrating their activities as 8-vinyl reductases. We propose thatnmrAandfrhBbe reassigned asbciAandbciB, respectively; transcript and proteomic analysis ofAcaryochloris marinareveal that bothbciAandbciBare expressed and their encoded proteins are present in the cell, possibly in order to ensure that all synthesized chlorophyll pigment carries an ethyl group at C-8. Potential reasons for the presence of two 8-vinyl reductases in this strain, which is unique for cyanobacteria, are discussed.IMPORTANCEThe cyanobacteriumAcaryochloris marinais the best-studied phototrophic organism that uses chlorophylldfor photosynthesis. Unique among cyanobacteria sequenced to date, its genome contains ORFs encoding two unrelated enzymes that catalyze the reduction of the C-8 vinyl group of a precursor molecule to an ethyl group. Carrying a reduced C-8 group may be of particular importance to organisms containing chlorophylld. Plant genomes also contain orthologs of both of these genes; thus, the bacterial progenitor of the chloroplast may also have contained bothbciAandbciB.