Genes for phycocyanin subunits in Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6701 and assembly mutant UV16

The cyanobacterial phycobilisome is a large protein complex located on the photosynthetic membrane. It harvests light energy and transfers it to chlorophyll for use in photosynthesis. Phycobilisome assembly mutants in the unicellular cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain 6701 have been characterized. One such mutant, UV16, contains a defect in the assembly of the biliprotein phycocyanin. We report the cloning and sequencing of the phycocyanin genes from wild-type Synechocystis strain 6701 and demonstrate an alteration in the gene for the phycocyanin alpha subunit in UV16. Possible consequences of the lesion on phycobilisome assembly were assessed from its position in the phycocyanin tertiary and quaternary structures. The UV16 phenotype is complex and includes a reduced level of phycocyanin relative to that in the wild type. To determine whether the lower phycocyanin content results from lower transcript levels, a fragment of cpcBA was used as a probe for quantitating phycocyanin mRNA. Both the wild type and UV16 contained two phycocyanin transcripts of approximately 1.4 and 1.5 kilobases that were equal in abundance and that did not vary with light quality during cell growth. Equal levels of these transcripts in the wild type and UV16 suggest that the lower phycocyanin content in the mutant may be due to posttranscriptional events. The 5' ends of the two phycocyanin mRNAs were mapped at 100 and 223 base pairs upstream of the cpcB initiation codon. Homologous regions upstream of the putative transcription initiation sites may be important for maintaining high levels of transcription from the Synechocystis strain 6701 phycocyanin gene set.