Amino acid sequence of the maize ferredoxin:thioredoxin reductase variable subunit

The ferredoxin:thioredoxin reductase (FTR) is the essential enzyme of the light dependent regulatory system controlling enzyme activities in oxygenic, photosynthetic cells. This protein is composed of two dissimilar subunits, a catalytic subunit containing a [4Fe-4S] cluster and a redox-active disulfide bridge as the active site, and a variable subunit, whose function is not known yet. Whereas size and primary structure of the catalytic subunit from different organisms seem to be well conserved, they are quite variable for the variable subunit. Here we report the complete amino acid sequence of the variable subunit of maize (Zea mays) FTR established by protein sequencing. The subunit contains 97 residues and has a calculated molecular mass of 10939 Da. A sequence comparison shows 40% identity with the variable subunit from spinach and 38% with the one from Anacystis. The identical residues are grouped in three consensus domains, one near the N-terminus, one in the middle of the subunit and one near the C-terminus. We have obtained some evidence indicating that the N-terminal consensus domain is possibly involved in the interaction with the catalytic subunit.