Thylakoid Membrane Maturation and PSII Activation Are Linked in Greening Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 Cells

Abstract Thylakoid membranes are typical and essential features of both chloroplasts and cyanobacteria. While they are crucial for phototrophic growth of cyanobacterial cells, biogenesis of thylakoid membranes is not well understood yet. Dark-grown Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 cells contain only rudimentary thylakoid membranes but still a relatively high amount of phycobilisomes, inactive photosystem II and active photosystem I centers. After shifting dark-grown Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 cells into the light, “greening” of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 cells, i.e. thylakoid membrane formation and recovery of photosynthetic electron transport reactions, was monitored. Complete restoration of a t…