Photosystem II protein clearance and FtsH function in the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana

All oxygenic photoautotrophs suffer photoinactivation of their Photosystem II complexes, at a rate driven by the instantaneous light level. To maintain photosynthesis, PsbA subunits are proteolytically removed from photoinactivated Photosystem II complexes, primarily by a membrane-bound FtsH protease. Diatoms thrive in environments with fluctuating light, such as coastal regions, in part because they enjoy a low susceptibility to photoinactivation of Photosystem II. In a coastal strain of the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana growing across a range of light levels, active Photosystem II represents only about 42 % of the total Photosystem II protein, with the remainder attributable to photoinactivated Photosystem II awaiting recycling. The rate constant for removal of PsbA protein increases with growth light, in parallel with an increasing content of the FtsH protease relative to the substrate PsbA. An offshore strain of Thalassiosira pseudonana, originating from a more stable light environment, had a lower content of FtsH and slower rate constants for removal of PsbA. We used this data to generate the first estimates for in vivo proteolytic degradation of photoinactivated PsbA per FtsH6 protease, at ~3.9 × 10(-2) s(-1), which proved consistent across growth lights and across the onshore and offshore strains.