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Cyanobacterial phycobilisomes and phycobiliproteins

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Abstract

In cyanobacteria, phycobilisomes (PBS) act as antenna of the photosynthetic pigment apparatus. They contain brightly colored phycobiliproteins (PBP) and form giant supramolecular complexes (up to 3000–7000 kDa) containing 200 to 500 phycobilin chromophores covalently bound to the proteins. There are over ten various PBP known, which falls into one of three groups: phycoerythrins, phycocyanins, and allophycocyanins. Hollow disks of PBP trimers and hexamers are arranged into cylinders by colorless linker proteins; the cylinders are then assembled into PBS. Typical semidiscoidal PBS consists of a central core formed by three allophycocyanin cylinders and of six lateral cylinders consisting of other PBP and attached as a fan to the nucleus. The PBS number, size, and pigment composition in cyanobacteria depend on light conditions and other ambient factors. While PBSs have certain advantages compared to other antennae, these pigment-protein complexes require more energy for their biosynthesis than the chlorophyll a/b and chlorophyll a/c proteins of oxygenic photosynthetic organisms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bach Institute of Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninskii pr. 33, Moscow, 119071, Russia

    I. N. Stadnichuk

  2. Faculty of Biology, Moscow Lomonosov State University, Moscow, 119234, Russia

    P. M. Krasilnikov & D. V. Zlenko

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  1. I. N. Stadnichuk
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  2. P. M. Krasilnikov
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  3. D. V. Zlenko
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Correspondence to I. N. Stadnichuk.

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Original Russian Text © I.N. Stadnichuk, P.M. Krasilnikov, D.V. Zlenko, 2015, published in Mikrobiologiya, 2015, Vol. 84, No. 2, pp. 131–143.

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Stadnichuk, I.N., Krasilnikov, P.M. & Zlenko, D.V. Cyanobacterial phycobilisomes and phycobiliproteins. Microbiology 84, 101–111 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0026261715020150

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