Evidence for a common origin of cloroplasts with light-harvesting complexes of different pigmentation

The red algae (Rhodophyta), which like cyanobacteria have only chlorophyll a and use phycobilisomes for light-harvesting, are often considered to have originated independently of other photosynthetic eukaryotes, namely the chlorophyll a/b-containing Chlorophyta and the chlorophyll a/c-containing Chr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNature (London) Vol. 367; no. 6463; pp. 566 - 568
Main Authors Wolfe, G.R, Cunningham, F.X, Durnford, D, Green, B.R, Gantt, E
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published 1994
Subjects
chlorophyll
chloroplasts
photosynthesis
pigmentation
Porphyridium cruentum
red seaweeds
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Summary:The red algae (Rhodophyta), which like cyanobacteria have only chlorophyll a and use phycobilisomes for light-harvesting, are often considered to have originated independently of other photosynthetic eukaryotes, namely the chlorophyll a/b-containing Chlorophyta and the chlorophyll a/c-containing Chromophyta. Here we report that the red alga Porphyridium cruentum has a chlorophyll a-containing antenna complex functionally associated with photosystem I, and that polypeptides of this antenna complex are immunologically related to those of higher-plant chlorophyll a/b complexes and to those of chromophyte fucoxanthin-chlorophyll a/c antenna complexes. This establishes a clear link between organisms containing phycobilisomes and those containing chlorophyll-based light-harvesting complexes and shows that these antennae can co-exist in the same organism. Furthermore, it suggests that the light-harvesting proteins of all photosynthetic eukaryotes had a common origin and supports the idea that chloroplasts had a common ancestor.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687