Green alga Chlorella ohadii is known for its ability to carry out photosynthesis under harsh conditions. Using cryogenic electron microscopy (cryoEM), we obtained a high-resolution structure of PSII at 2.72 Å. This structure revealed 64 subunits, which encompassed 386 chlorophylls, 86 carotenoids, four plastoquinones, and several structural lipids. At the luminal side of PSII, a unique subunit arrangement was observed to protect the oxygen-evolving complex. This arrangement involved PsbO (OEE1), PsbP (OEE2), PsbB, and PsbU (a homolog of plant OEE3). PsbU interacted with PsbO, PsbC, and PsbP, thereby stabilizing the shield of the oxygen-evolving complex. Significant changes were also observed at the stromal electron acceptor side. PsbY, identified as a transmembrane helix, was situated alongside PsbF and PsbE, which enclosed cytochrome b559 . Supported by the adjacent C-terminal helix of Psb10, these four transmembrane helices formed a bundle that shielded cytochrome b559 from the surrounding solvent. Moreover, the bulk of Psb10 formed a protective cap, which safeguarded the quinone site and likely contributed to the stacking of PSII complexes. Based on our findings, we propose a protective mechanism that prevents Q B (plastoquinone B) from becoming fully reduced. This mechanism offers insights into the regulation of electron transfer within PSII.
Organizational Affiliation:
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel.
For questions/corrections to specific PDB entries, including citation updates: email deposit-help@mail.wwpdb.org
Thank you for providing your feedback! Someone will be in touch with you shortly. This window will automatically close in 5 seconds.
Apologies, our feedback server is currently unavailable and we are troubleshooting the issue. In the meantime, please copy and paste the below information into an email addressed to info@rcsb.org