Configuration of the sugar head of glycolipids in thylakoid membranes

Glycolipids constitute the majority of membrane components in oxygenic photosynthetic organisms, whereas they are minor lipids in other organisms. In cyanobacteria, three glycolipids comprise ~90 mol% of the total lipids in thylakoid membranes, where photosynthetic electron transport occurs. Among these glycolipids, 80 mol% are galactolipids (monogalactosyldiacylglycerol and digalactosyldiacylglycerol). Galactolipids are well conserved in oxygenic photosynthetic organisms and are believed to be essential for the integrity of the membrane system. It remains unclear, however, which part(s) of the galactolipid structure is the key factor for their function, e.g., the sugar moiety and/or the anomeric configuration. To address this issue, several bacterial membrane glycolipid synthase genes have been introduced into cyanobacteria to test for complementation of knocked-out genes involved in galactolipid biosynthesis. In this review, we summarize recent advances in the analyses of sugar species and configurations of glycolipids heterologously synthesized in the thylakoid membrane and discuss their functional importance.