Abstract
Chloroplasts of maize leaves differentiate into specific bundle sheath (BS) and mesophyll (M) types to accommodate C(4) photosynthesis. Chloroplasts contain thylakoid and envelope membranes that contain the photosynthetic machineries and transporters but also proteins involved in e.g. protein homeostasis. These chloroplast membranes must be specialized within each cell type to accommodate C(4) photosynthesis and regulate metabolic fluxes and activities. This quantitative study determined the differentiated state of BS and M chloroplast thylakoid and envelope membrane proteomes and their oligomeric states using innovative gel-based and mass spectrometry-based protein quantifications. This included native gels, iTRAQ, and label-free quantification using an LTQ-Orbitrap. Subunits of Photosystems I and II, the cytochrome b(6)f, and ATP synthase complexes showed average BS/M accumulation ratios of 1.6, 0.45, 1.0, and 1.33, respectively, whereas ratios for the light-harvesting complex I and II families were 1.72 and 0.68, respectively. A 1000-kDa BS-specific NAD(P)H dehydrogenase complex with associated proteins of unknown function containing more than 15 proteins was observed; we speculate that this novel complex possibly functions in inorganic carbon concentration when carboxylation rates by ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase are lower than decarboxylation rates by malic enzyme. Differential accumulation of thylakoid proteases (Egy and DegP), state transition kinases (STN7,8), and Photosystem I and II assembly factors was observed, suggesting that cell-specific photosynthetic electron transport depends on post-translational regulatory mechanisms. BS/M ratios for inner envelope transporters phosphoenolpyruvate/P(i) translocator, Dit1, Dit2, and Mex1 were determined and reflect metabolic fluxes in carbon metabolism. A wide variety of hundreds of other proteins showed differential BS/M accumulation. Mass spectral information and functional annotations are available through the Plant Proteome Database. These data are integrated with previous data, resulting in a model for C(4) photosynthesis, thereby providing new rationales for metabolic engineering of C(4) pathways and targeted analysis of genetic networks that coordinate C(4) differentiation.
Highlights
Chloroplasts of maize leaves differentiate into specific bundle sheath (BS) and mesophyll (M) types to accommodate C4 photosynthesis
Envelope and thylakoid membranes can be separately purified, we decided to collect envelopes and thylakoid together because this reduced the number of samples and avoided variability resulting from additional fractionation
We identified two maize proteins that are homologues to Arabidopsis proteins Th formation1 (TF1) [88] and VIPP1 [89], both involved in thylakoid membrane formation
Summary
Chloroplasts of maize leaves differentiate into specific bundle sheath (BS) and mesophyll (M) types to accommodate C4 photosynthesis. Chloroplasts contain thylakoid and envelope membranes that contain the photosynthetic machineries and transporters and proteins involved in e.g. protein homeostasis These chloroplast membranes must be specialized within each cell type to accommodate C4 photosynthesis and regulate metabolic fluxes and activities. This quantitative study determined the differentiated state of BS and M chloroplast thylakoid and envelope membrane proteomes and their oligomeric states using innovative gel-based and mass spectrometry-based protein quantifications. Differential protein accumulation and activities between M and the BS chloroplasts of maize and sorghum (both NADPmalic enzyme (ME) type C4) have been studied using various low throughput techniques This has shown that BS and M cells each accumulate a distinct set of C4 photosynthetic enzymes and has established the general pathway for C4 photosynthesis [5,6,7]. A better understanding of the composition and assembly state of the NDH complex, as well as interactions with other electron transport components, will be important to understand its contribution to cyclic electron flow
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