Probing in vitro translation products with monoclonal antibodies to a 15.2 kD polypeptide subunit of photosystem I

A cDNA clone encoding a 10.8 kDa photosystem I polypeptide of barley

A cDNA clone encoding the barley photosystem I polypeptide which migrates with an apparent molecular mass of 16 kDa on SDS-polyacrylamide gels has been isolated. The 634 bp sequence of this clone has been determined and contains one large open reading frame coding for a 15,457 Da precursor polypeptide. The molecular mass of the mature polypeptide is 10,821 Da. The amino acid sequence of the transit peptide indicates that the polypeptide is routed towards the stroma side of the thylakoid membrane. The hydropathy plot of the polypeptide shows no membrane-spanning regions.

Probing in vitro translation products with monoclonal antibodies to chlorophyll a/b-binding proteins of barley thylakoids

The polypeptides of the barley light-harvesting protein of photosystem I (LHCI) share certain epitopes. At least two of these common epitopes are present in chlorophyll a/b-protein 1 (Chla/b-P1 = CP29), as shown by cross-reacting monoclonal antibodies (14). These antibodies were employed for immunological identification of polypeptides translated in vitro in an mRNA-dependent cell-free rabbit reticulocyte lysate. The monoclonal antibody CMpLHCI:2 precipitated only one polypeptide of molecular weight 28 kD from in vitro translates primed with polyA+ RNA. No 28 kD precipitation band was found, if this antibody was mixed with a PSI-200 preparation before it was added to the translate. The translational capacity of the LHCI transcripts isolated from 12 hours greened barley was much higher than those isolated from 6 hours greened barley. Transcripts for LHCI polypeptides were also found among the polyA+ RNA of the mutant viridis-k23, which is devoid of LHCI polypeptides in its thylakoid membranes. The monoclonal antibody CMpCh1a/b-P1:1 precipitated a polypeptide of molecular weight 31 kD from in vitro translates primed with polyA+ RNA. Thus, the cross-reactivity the two antibodies show with the mature proteins is not found when the antibodies are reacted with the precursor proteins.

In vitro transcription and translation of the psbD gene encoding the D-2 protein of photosystem II in barley

The plastoquinone-binding polypeptide D-2 of the reaction center complex of photosystem II in barley has been expressed in vitro using the expression vector pGem3 containing the psbD gene of chloroplast DNA as template. The full length D-2 polypeptide with an apparent mol. weight of 32 kD is a major product when mRNA is transcribed with SP6 RNA polymerase from an insert containing the psbD gene with a 36 bp 5' leader sequence and a 3' tail of 99 bp downstream of the stop codon. Translation of the mRNA had to be done in a rabbit reticulocyte lysate. Translation also occurred from the internal AUG codons giving rise to truncated D-2 polypeptides with sizes of 30, 25 and 17 kD. They are immunoprecipitable with antisera either raised against amino acid residues 235 to 241 or against 345 residues of the D-2 polypeptide. A truncated translation product of 12 kD probably initiated at codon 247 is not recognized by either antiserum. An additional immunoprecipitable protein with an apparent molecular weight of 46 kD is observed by SDS-PAGE and is interpreted as a homomeric aggregate of D-2 polypeptides. Upon addition of methanol solubilized 2,6 dichloro-p-benzoquinone or other quinones a preferential translation of the full-length and truncated D-2 polypeptides is observed. The use of in vitro synthesized D-2 polypeptides for studies of binding quinones, other electron carriers and chlorophyll chromophores is discussed.

Characterization and in vitro expression of the cytochrome b-559 genes of barley. II. In vitro transcription and translation

The two cytochrome b-559 apoproteins of 9.4 kD and 4.5 kD molecular weight have been expressed in vitro using DNA templates containing either the two genes psbE and psbF in tandem or the individual genes. Transcription with E. coli RNA-polymerase or SP6 RNA-polymerase has been followed by translation in E. coli derived lysates. Simultaneous as well as independent synthesis of the apoproteins is possible. A 9.4 kD in vitro translation product has been identified as apoprotein I by immunoprecipitation with a monoclonal antibody specific for the C-terminal part of the 9.4 kD apoprotein of cytochrome b-559. The isolated psbF gene directs the synthesis of a translation product with a molecular weight of 4.5 kD corresponding to apoprotein II. Expression of the psbE gene requires the presence of endogenous regulatory sequences 5' upstream of psbE, while this is not the case for psbF. Additional in vitro translation products of 5.7 and 2.4 kD molecular weights are synthesized and probably translated from two reading frames starting with two different out-of-phase ATG codons in the nucleotide sequence of the psbE gene.