Arrangement of Photosystem II and ATP Synthase in Chloroplast Membranes of Spinach and Pea
Open Access
- 1 April 2010
- journal article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in THE PLANT CELL ONLINE
- Vol. 22 (4), 1299-1312
- https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.109.071431
Abstract
We used cryoelectron tomography to reveal the arrangements of photosystem II (PSII) and ATP synthase in vitreous sections of intact chloroplasts and plunge-frozen suspensions of isolated thylakoid membranes. We found that stroma and grana thylakoids are connected at the grana margins by staggered lamellar membrane protrusions. The stacking repeat of grana membranes in frozen-hydrated chloroplasts is 15.7 nm, with a 4.5-nm lumenal space and a 3.2-nm distance between the flat stromal surfaces. The chloroplast ATP synthase is confined to minimally curved regions at the grana end membranes and stroma lamellae, where it covers 20% of the surface area. In total, 85% of the ATP synthases are monomers and the remainder form random assemblies of two or more copies. Supercomplexes of PSII and light-harvesting complex II (LHCII) occasionally form ordered arrays in appressed grana thylakoids, whereas this order is lost in destacked membranes. In the ordered arrays, each membrane on either side of the stromal gap contains a two-dimensional crystal of supercomplexes, with the two lattices arranged such that PSII cores, LHCII trimers, and minor LHCs each face a complex of the same kind in the opposite membrane. Grana formation is likely to result from electrostatic interactions between these complexes across the stromal gap.Keywords
This publication has 86 references indexed in Scilit:
- Light-induced Dissociation of an Antenna Hetero-oligomer Is Needed for Non-photochemical Quenching InductionOnline Journal of Public Health Informatics, 2009
- The Three-Dimensional Network of the Thylakoid Membranes in Plants: Quasihelical Model of the Granum-Stroma AssemblyTHE PLANT CELL ONLINE, 2008
- Dimer ribbons of ATP synthase shape the inner mitochondrial membraneThe EMBO Journal, 2008
- Plastoglobules Are Lipoprotein Subcompartments of the Chloroplast That Are Permanently Coupled to Thylakoid Membranes and Contain Biosynthetic EnzymesTHE PLANT CELL ONLINE, 2006
- Automated electron microscope tomography using robust prediction of specimen movementsJournal of Structural Biology, 2005
- Protein production by auto-induction in high-density shaking culturesProtein Expression and Purification, 2005
- Computer Visualization of Three-Dimensional Image Data Using IMODJournal of Structural Biology, 1996
- Cryo-electron microscopy of vitrified specimensQuarterly Reviews of Biophysics, 1988
- Three-dimensional crystals of the light-harvesting chlorophyll ab protein complex from pea chloroplastsJournal of Molecular Biology, 1987
- SUBSTRUCTURE OF CHLOROPLAST LAMELLAEThe Journal of cell biology, 1965