Variants of photosystem II D1 protein in Thermosynechococcus elongatus

摘要

Cyanobacteria have several psbA genes encoding PsbA, the D1 reaction center protein of the photosystem II (PSII) complex which bears, with PsbD, the D2 protein, most of the cofactors involved in electron-transfer reactions. The thermophilic cyanobacterium Thermosynechococcus elongatus has three psbA genes differently expressed depending on the environmental conditions. Among the 344 residues constituting each of the three possible PsbA variants there are 21 substitutions between PsbA1 and PsbA3, 31 between PsbA1 and PsbA2, and 27 between PsbA2 and PsbA3. In this review, we briefly summarize the changes already identified in the properties of the redox cofactors depending on the D1 variant constituting PSII in T. elongatus.