Ferredoxin:NADP+ Oxidoreductase Association with Phycocyanin Modulates Its Properties.

In photosynthetic organisms, ferredoxin:NADP+ oxidoreductase (FNR) is known to provide NADPH for CO2 assimilation, but it also utilizes NADPH to provide reduced ferredoxin. The cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain PCC6803 produces two FNR isoforms, a small one (FNRS) similar to the one found in plant plastids and a large one (FNRL) that is associated with the phycobilisorne, a light-harvesting complex. Here we show that a mutant lacking FNRL exhibits a higher NADP+/NADPH ratio. We also purified to homogeneity a phycobilisome sub-complex comprising FNRL, named FNRL-PC. The enzymatic activities of FNRL-PC were compared with those of FNRs. During NADPH oxidation, FNRL-PC exhibits a 30% decrease in the Michaelis constant Km(NADPH), and a 70% increase in Km(ferredoxin), which is in agreement with its predicted lower activity of ferredoxin reduction. During NADP+ reduction, the FNRL-PC shows a 29/43% decrease in the rate of single electron transfer from reduced ferredoxin in the presence/absence of NADP+. The increase in Km(ferredoxin), and the rate decrease of single reduction are attributed to steric hindrance by the phycocyanin moiety of FNRL-PC. Both isoforms are capable of catalyzing the NADP+ reduction under multiple turnover conditions. Furthermore, we obtained evidence that, under high ionic strength conditions, electron transfer from reduced ferredoxin is rate limiting during this process. The differences that we observe might not fully explain the in vivo properties of the Synechocystis mutants expressing only one of the isoforms. Therefore, we advocate that FNR localization and/or substrates availability are essential in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]