Role of OrfQ in Formation of Light-Harvesting Complex of Rhodobacter sphaeroides under Light-Limiting Photoheterotrophic Conditions

A puc-deleted cell of Rhodobacter sphaeroides grows with a doubling time longer than 160 h under light-limiting photoheterotrophic (3 Watts [W]/㎡) conditions due to an absence of the peripheral light-harvesting B800-850 complex. A spontaneous fast-growing mutant, R. sphaeroides SK101, was isolated from the puc-deleted cells cultured photoheterotrophically at 3 W/㎡. This mutant grew with an approximately 40-h doubling time. The growth of the mutant, however, was indistinguishable from its parental strain during photoheterotrophic growth at 10 W/㎡ as well as during aerobic growth. The membrane of SK101 grown aerobically did not reveal the presence of any spectral complex, while the amounts of the B875 complex and photosynthetic pigments of SK101 grown anaerobiclly in the dark with dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) were the same as those of the parental cell. These results indicate that the oxygen control of the photosynthetic complex formation remained unaltered in the mutant. The B875 complex of SK101 under light-limiting conditions was elevated by 20％ to 30％ compared with that of the parental cell, which reflected the parallel increase of the bacteriochlorophyll and carotenoid contents of the mutant. When the puc was restored in SK101, the B875 complex level remained unchanged, but that of the B800-850 complex increased. The mutated phenotype of SK101 was complemented with orfQ encoding a putative bacteriochlorophyll-mobilizing protein. Accordingly, it is proposed that the mutated OrfQ of SK101 should have an altered affinity towards the assembly factor specific to the most peripheral light-harvesting complex, which could be either the B875 or the B800-850 complex.