Search results for "binding"
showing 10 items of 3896 documents
Down-regulation of early sea urchin histone H2A gene relies on cis regulative sequences located in the 5' and 3' regions and including the enhancer b…
2004
The tandem repeated sea urchin alpha-histone genes are developmentally regulated by gene-specific promoter elements. Coordinate transcription of the five genes begins after meiotic maturation of the oocyte, continues through cleavage, and reaches its maximum at morula stage, after which these genes are shut off and maintained in a silenced state for the life cycle of the animal. Although cis regulative sequences affecting the timing and the level of expression of these genes have been characterized, much less is known about the mechanism of their repression. Here we report the results of a functional analysis that allowed the identification of the sequence elements needed for the silencing …
An Extraction-Based Assay for Neutral Anionophores: The Measurement of High Binding Constants to Steroidal Receptors in a Nonpolar Solvent
2002
The extraction-based proto- col for measuring binding constants, developed by Cram and co-workers, has been extended for use with anionic substrates. The method is especially useful for high-affinity receptors, allow- ing very high binding constants to be measured in nonpolar solvents. Distri- bution constants Kd between chloroform and water have been obtained for tet- raethylammonium chloride and bro- mide, thus calibrating the method for these two substrates. Application to steroidal podands 5 ± 9 has confirmed the ability of electron-withdrawing groups to enhance hydrogen-bond do- nor capabilities. Binding constants of 3 10 71 have been measured for the most powerful receptor 7. An X-ray…
Folding in vitro of light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b protein is coupled with pigment binding.
2002
The major light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b protein (LHCIIb) of the plant photosynthetic apparatus is able to self-organise in vitro. When the recombinant apoprotein, Lhcb1, is solubilised in the denaturing detergent sodium (or lithium) dodecylsulfate (SDS or LDS) and then mixed with chlorophylls and carotenoids under renaturing conditions, structurally authentic LHCIIb forms. Assembly of functional LHCIIb, as indicated by the establishment of energy transfer between complex-bound chlorophyll molecules, occurs in two apparent kinetic steps with time constants of 10 to 30 seconds and 50 to 300 seconds, depending on the reaction conditions. Here, we use circular dichroism (CD) in the far-UV ra…
Early Steps in the Assembly of Light-harvesting Chlorophyll a/b Complex
2004
The light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b complex (LHCIIb) spontaneously assembles from its pigment and protein components in detergent solution. The formation of functional LHCIIb can be detected in time-resolved experiments by monitoring the establishment of excitation energy transfer from protein-bound chlorophyll b to chlorophyll a. To detect the possible initial steps of chlorophyll binding that may not yet give rise to chlorophyll b-to-a energy transfer, we have monitored LHCIIb assembly by measuring excitation energy transfer from a fluorescent dye, covalently bound to the protein, to the chlorophylls. In order to exclude interference of the dye with protein folding or pigment binding, th…
Determination of relative chlorophyll binding affinities in the major light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b complex.
2002
The major light-harvesting complex (LHCIIb) of photosystem II can be reconstituted in vitro from its recombinant apoprotein in the presence of a mixture of carotenoids and chlorophylls a and b. By varying the chlorophyll a/b ratio in the reconstitution mixture, the relative amounts of chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b bound to LHCIIb can be changed. We have analyzed the chlorophyll stoichiometry in recombinant wild type and mutant LHCIIb reconstituted at different chlorophyll a/b ratios in order to assess relative affinities of the chlorophyll-binding sites. This approach reveals five sites that exclusively bind chlorophyll b. Another site exhibits a slight preference of chlorophyll b over ch…
Consecutive binding of chlorophylls a and b during the assembly in vitro of light-harvesting chlorophyll-a/b protein (LHCIIb).
2006
The apoprotein of the major light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b complex (LHCIIb) is post-translationally imported into the chloroplast, where membrane insertion, protein folding, and pigment binding take place. The sequence and molecular mechanism of the latter steps is largely unknown. The complex spontaneously self-organises in vitro to form structurally authentic LHCIIb upon reconstituting the unfolded recombinant protein with the pigments chlorophyll a, b, and carotenoids in detergent micelles. Former measurements of LHCIIb assembly had revealed two apparent kinetic phases, a faster one (tau1) in the range of 10 s to 1 min, and a slower one (tau2) in the range of several min. To unravel th…
Refinement of a structural model of a pigment-protein complex by accurate optical line shape theory and experiments.
2007
Time-local and time-nonlocal theories are used in combination with optical spectroscopy to characterize the water-soluble chlorophyll binding protein complex (WSCP) from cauliflower. The recombinant cauliflower WSCP complexes reconstituted with either chlorophyll b (Chl b) or Chl a/Chl b mixtures are characterized by absorption spectroscopy at 77 and 298 K and circular dichroism at 298 K. On the basis of the analysis of these spectra and spectra reported for recombinant WSCP reconstituted with Chl a only (Hughes, J. L.; Razeghifard, R.; Logue, M.; Oakley, A.; Wydrzynski, T.; Krausz, E. J. Am. Chem. Soc. U.S.A. 2006, 128, 3649), the "open-sandwich" model proposed for the structure of the pig…
Chlorophyll b is involved in long-wavelength spectral properties of light-harvesting complexes LHC I and LHC II.
2001
AbstractChlorophyll (Chl) molecules attached to plant light-harvesting complexes (LHC) differ in their spectral behavior. While most Chl a and Chl b molecules give rise to absorption bands between 645 nm and 670 nm, some special Chls absorb at wavelengths longer than 700 nm. Among the Chl a/b-antennae of higher plants these are found exclusively in LHC I. In order to assign this special spectral property to one chlorophyll species we reconstituted LHC of both photosystem I (Lhca4) and photosystem II (Lhcb1) with carotenoids and only Chl a or Chl b and analyzed the effect on pigment binding, absorption and fluorescence properties. In both LHCs the Chl-binding sites of the omitted Chl species…
Random mutations directed to transmembrane and loop domains of the light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b protein: impact on pigment binding.
1999
The major light-harvesting complex of photosystem II (LHCII) can be reconstituted in vitro by folding its bacterially expressed apoprotein, Lhcb, in detergent solution in the presence of chlorophylls and carotenoids. To compare the impact of alpha-helical transmembrane domains and hydrophilic loop domains of the apoprotein on complex formation and stability, we introduced random mutations into a segment of the protein comprising the stromal loop, the third (C-proximal) transmembrane helix, and part of the amphipathic helix in the C-terminal domain. The mutant versions of Lhcb were screened for the loss of their ability to form stable LHCII upon reconstitution in vitro. Most steps during the…
Pigment Assembly—Transport and Ligation
2006
The ligation of pigments to proteins involved in photosynthesis appears to be strictly regulated and, in turn, to have an important regulatory impact on the biogenesis of the photosynthetic apparatus. Even so, the molecular mechanism of pigment-protein assembly is largely unknown. However, data are now accumulating on the co-translational transport of chlorophyll a proteins and the post-translational transport of chlorophyll a/b proteins into the thylakoid membrane. The molecular apparatus in the thylakoid membrane presumably occupied with protein insertion may also be involved in pigment ligation. Similarly, the last steps of pigment biosynthesis, whose location has not been fully establis…