Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • About the Journal
    • General Information
    • Scope
    • Editorial Board
    • Impact & Metrics
    • Benefits of Publishing
    • Advertising/Sponsorship
    • About the Biochemical Society
  • Current Issue
  • For Authors
    • Submit Your Paper
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Editorial Policy
    • Open Access Policy
    • Rights and Permissions
    • Biochemical Society Member Benefits
  • For Librarians
    • Subscriptions and Pricing
    • Check Your Usage
    • Terms and Conditions
      • Biochemical Journal- Terms and Conditions of Usage
    • Open Access Policy
    • FAQs for Librarians
    • Register for Free Trial
  • For Readers
    • Subscribe
    • Rights and Permissions
    • Biochemical Society Member Benefits
    • Journal Access for Biochemical Society Members
    • Request a Free Trial
  • Collections
    • Article Collections
    • Classic Articles
  • Help
    • Technical Support
    • Contact Us
  • Other Publications
    • Biochemical Journal
    • Clinical Science
    • Bioscience Reports
    • Neuronal Signaling
    • Biochemical Society Transactions
    • Essays in Biochemistry
    • Emerging Topics in Life Sciences
    • Biochemical Society Symposia
    • Cell Signalling Biology
    • Glossary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
    • The Biochemist
    • Biochemical Society

User menu

  • Log-in
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us

Search

  • Advanced search
  • Other Publications
    • Biochemical Journal
    • Clinical Science
    • Bioscience Reports
    • Neuronal Signaling
    • Biochemical Society Transactions
    • Essays in Biochemistry
    • Emerging Topics in Life Sciences
    • Biochemical Society Symposia
    • Cell Signalling Biology
    • Glossary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
    • The Biochemist
    • Biochemical Society

Log-in

Sign-up for alerts  
  • My Cart
Biochemical Journal
Browse Archive
Advanced Search
  • Home
  • About the Journal
    • General Information
    • Scope
    • Editorial Board
    • Impact & Metrics
    • Benefits of Publishing
    • Advertising/Sponsorship
    • About the Biochemical Society
  • Current Issue
  • For Authors
    • Submit Your Paper
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Editorial Policy
    • Open Access Policy
    • Rights and Permissions
    • Biochemical Society Member Benefits
  • For Librarians
    • Subscriptions and Pricing
    • Check Your Usage
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Open Access Policy
    • FAQs for Librarians
    • Register for Free Trial
  • For Readers
    • Subscribe
    • Rights and Permissions
    • Biochemical Society Member Benefits
    • Journal Access for Biochemical Society Members
    • Request a Free Trial
  • Collections
    • Article Collections
    • Classic Articles
  • Help
    • Technical Support
    • Contact Us

Hypothesis

Metabolic regulation of photosynthetic membrane structure tunes electron transfer function

Matthew P. Johnson
Biochemical Journal Apr 05, 2018, 475 (7) 1225-1233; DOI: 10.1042/BCJ20170526
Matthew P. Johnson
Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, Firth Court, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, U.K.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • View author's works on this site
  • http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1663-0205
  • For correspondence: matt.johnson@sheffield.ac.uk
  • Article
  • Figures
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Abstract

The photosynthetic chloroplast thylakoid membrane of higher plants is a complex three-dimensional structure that is morphologically dynamic on a timescale of just a few minutes. The membrane dynamics are driven by the phosphorylation of light-harvesting complex II (LHCII) by the STN7 kinase, which controls the size of the stacked grana region relative to the unstacked stromal lamellae region. Here, I hypothesise that the functional significance of these membrane dynamics is in controlling the partition of electrons between photosynthetic linear and cyclic electron transfer (LET and CET), which determines the ratio of NADPH/ATP produced. The STN7 kinase responds to the metabolic state of the chloroplast by sensing the stromal redox state. A high NADPH/ATP ratio leads to reduction of thioredoxin f (TRXf), which reduces a CxxxC motif in the stromal domain of STN7 leading to its inactivation, whereas a low NADPH/ATP ratio leads to oxidation of TRXf and STN7 activation. Phosphorylation of LHCII leads to smaller grana, which favour LET by speeding up diffusion of electron carriers plastoquinone (PQ) and plastocyanin (PC) between the domains. In contrast, dephosphorylation of LHCII leads to larger grana that slow the diffusion of PQ and PC, leaving the PQ pool in the stroma more oxidised, thus enhancing the efficiency of CET. The feedback regulation of electron transfer by the downstream metabolism is crucial to plant fitness, since perturbations in the NADPH/ATP ratio can rapidly lead to the inhibition of photosynthesis and photo-oxidative stress.

  • LHCII
  • photosynthesis
  • STN7
  • thioredoxin
  • thylakoid
  • Abbreviations

    AA,
    antimycin A;
    CBB,
    Calvin–Benson–Bassham;
    cytb6f,
    cytochrome b6f;
    DTT,
    dithiothreitol;
    Fd,
    ferredoxin;
    LET and CET,
    linear and cyclic electron transfer;
    LHCII,
    light-harvesting complex II;
    NDH,
    NADPH-like dehydrogenase;
    PC,
    plastocyanin;
    PGRL1/PGR5,
    proton gradient regulation complex;
    PQ,
    plastoquinone;
    PSI,
    photosystem I;
    PSII,
    photosystem II;
    TRXf,
    thioredoxin f
    • © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society
    View Full Text

    Log in using your username and password

    Enter your Biochemical Journal username.
    Enter the password that accompanies your username.
    Forgot your user name or password?

    Log in through your institution

    You may be able to gain access using your login credentials for your institution. Contact your library if you do not have a username and password.
    If your organization uses OpenAthens, you can log in using your OpenAthens username and password. To check if your institution is supported, please see this list. Contact your library for more details.
    Previous ArticleNext Article
    Back to top

     

    April 2018

    Volume: 475 Issue: 7

    Biochemical Journal: 475 (7)
    • Table of Contents
    • About the Cover
    • Index by author

    Actions

    Email

    Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about Biochemical Journal.

    NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

    Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
    Metabolic regulation of photosynthetic membrane structure tunes electron transfer function
    (Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from Biochemical Journal
    (Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the Biochemical Journal web site.
    Share
    Metabolic regulation of photosynthetic membrane structure tunes electron transfer function
    Matthew P. Johnson
    Biochemical Journal Apr 2018, 475 (7) 1225-1233; DOI: 10.1042/BCJ20170526
    del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Technorati logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Mendeley logo
    Citation Tools
    Metabolic regulation of photosynthetic membrane structure tunes electron transfer function
    Matthew P. Johnson
    Biochemical Journal Apr 2018, 475 (7) 1225-1233; DOI: 10.1042/BCJ20170526

    Citation Manager Formats

    • BibTeX
    • Bookends
    • EasyBib
    • EndNote (tagged)
    • EndNote 8 (xml)
    • Medlars
    • Mendeley
    • Papers
    • RefWorks Tagged
    • Ref Manager
    • RIS
    • Zotero
    Print
    Alerts

    Please log in to add an alert for this article.

    Request Permissions
    Save to my folders

    View Full PDF

     Open in Utopia Docs
    • Tweet Widget
    • Facebook Like

    Jump To

    • Article
      • Abstract
      • Introduction
      • Current models for regulation of the LET/CET balance
      • A new model for the regulation of the LET/CET balance based on dynamic thylakoid stacking
      • Concluding remarks
      • Competing Interests
      • Acknowledgements
      • References
    • Figures
    • Info & Metrics
    • PDF

    Keywords

    LHCII
    photosynthesis
    STN7
    thioredoxin
    thylakoid

    Related Articles

    Cited By...

    • Portland Press Homepage
    • Publish With Us
    • Advertising
    • Technical Support
    • Biochemical Journal
    • Clinical Science
    • Essays in Biochemistry
    • Emerging Topics in Life Sciences
    • Biochemical Society Transactions
    • Neuronal Signaling
    • Bioscience Reports
    • Cell Signalling Biology
    • Biochemical Society Symposia

    Portland Press Limited
    Charles Darwin House
    12 Roger Street
    London WC1N 2JU
    Email: editorial@portlandpress.com

    The Biochemical Society