Abstract
Envelope preparations of chemotrophically and phototrophically grown Rhodospirillum tenue were isolated and characterized on the basis of their contents and composition in phospholipids and fatty acids, as well as on the basis of their enzyme activities, absorption spectra and polypeptide patterns. Both preparations were similar in their contents in phospholipids and fatty acids. Their total fatty acids were characterized by a rather high percentage of saturated fatty acids. The activities of the respiratory reactions were considerably higher in chemotrophic than in phototrophic membranes. This is true especially for activities of the terminal oxidase which were over 20 times greater. The affinities of the corresponding enzymes to their respective substrates (K m ) differed with differences in the culture conditions. Under chemotrophic conditions the K m values for the NADH-dependent reactions were lower than those values under phototrophic conditions, whereas the K m values for the succinate dependent reactions were higher. The low temperature (77°K) near infrared spectrum of the phototrophic membrane showed a peak at 875 nm which was not detectable in the chemotrophic membrane. The polypeptide patterns, in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate, of both preparations were quite similar except for the presence of two low molecular weight proteins (M. Wt. 12,000 and 10,000) in the phototrophic membrane which were absent in the chemotrophic membrane. Both envelope preparations were further fractionated into enriched cytoplasmic membrane and outer membrane fractions which were identified on the basis of their contents in 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonate, ubiquinone 8 and bacteriochlorophyll (in the case of the phototrophic membrane) and their enzyme activities. The buoyant densities of the corresponding fractions from both envelope preparations were found to be equal. The data presented in this paper demonstrate that envelope preparations of chemotrophically and phototrophically grown R. tenue are similar in their contents in 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonate, ubiquinone 8, phospholipids and fatty acids, yet differ significantly in their spectra, protein patterns and enzyme activities.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- BChl:
-
bacteriochlorophyll
- UQs :
-
ubiquinone 8
- KDO:
-
2-keto-3-deoxyoctonate
- PG:
-
phosphatidyl glycerol
- PE:
-
phosphatidyl ethanolamine
- DCPIP:
-
2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol
- PMS:
-
phenazine methosulfate
- SDS:
-
sodium dodecyl sulfate
References
Aagaard, J., Sistrom, W. R.: Control of synthesis of reaction center bacteriochlorophyll in photosynthetic bacteria. Photochem. Photobiol. 55, 209–225 (1972)
Cohen-Bazire, G., Sistrom, W. R.: The procaryotic photosynthetic apparatus. In: The chlorophylls (L. P. Vernon, G. R. Seeley, eds.), pp. 283–312 New York: Academic Press 1966
de Boer, W. E.: On the ultrastructure in Rhodopseudomonas gelatinosa and Rhodospirillum tenue. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek; J. Microbiol. Serol. 35, 241–242 (1969)
Ding, D. H., Kaplan, S.: Separation of inner and outer membranes of Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides. Preparative Biochem. 6, 61–79 (1976)
Drews, G.: Die Isolierung schwefelfreier Purpurbacterien. Zbl. Bakt., I. Abt. Orig. Suppl. 1, 170–178 (1965)
Huang, J. W., Kaplan, S.: Membrane proteins of Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides. III. Isolation, purification and characterisation of cell envelope proteins. Biochim. Biophys. Acta (Amst.) 307, 301–316 (1973)
Irschik, H., Oelze, J.: The effect of transfer from low to high light intensity on electron transport in Rhodospirillum rubrum membranes. Arch. Microbiol. 109, 307–313 (1976)
Kleinig, H., Lempert, U.: Phospholipid analysis on a micro scale. J. Chromatog. 53, 595–597 (1970)
Laemmli, U. K.: Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature (Lond.) 227, 680–685 (1970)
Lascelles, J.: The bacterial photosynthetic apparatus. Advances in microbial physiology (Rose, A. H. and Wilkinson, J. F, eds.), pp. 1–42 New York: Academic Press 1968
Lien, S., Gest, H., San Pietro, A.: Regulation of chlorophyll synthesis in photosynthetic bacteria. Bionergetics 4, 423–434 (1973)
Lowry, O. H., Rosebrough, N. J., Farr A. L., Randall, R. J.: Protein measurement with the Folin-Phenol reagent. J. Biol. Chem. 193, 265–275 (1951)
Mira y Lopez, R., Siekevitz, P.: SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of membrane proteins: effect of phospholipids. Anal. Biochem. 53, 594–602 (1973)
Niederman, R. A., Gibson, K. D.: Isolation and physicochemical properties of membranes from purple photosynthetic bacteria. In: The photosynthetic bacteria (Clayton, R. K., Sistrom, W. R., eds.), pp. 79–118. New York: Plenum Publishing Corp 1978
Niederman, R. A., Segen, B. J., Gibson, K. D.: Membranes of Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides. I. Isolation and characterisation of membrane fractions from extracts of aerobically and anaerobically grown cells. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 152, 547–560 (1972)
Oelze, J.: Early formation of intracytoplasmic membranes in Rhodospirillum rubrum. Biochim. Biophys. Acta (Amst.) 436, 95–100 (1976)
Oelze, J., Biedermann, M., Drews, G.: Die Morphogenese des Photosyntheseapparates von Rhodospirillum rubrum. I. Die Isolierung und Charakterisierung von zwei Membransystemen. Biochim. Biophys. Acta (Amst.) 173, 436–447 (1969)
Oelze, J., Drews, G.: Membranes of photosynthetic bacteria. Biochim. Biophys. Acta (Amst.) 265, 209–239 (1972)
Oelze, J., Golecki, J. R., Kleinig, H., Weckesser, J.: Characterisation of two cell-envelope fractions from chemotrophically grown Rhodospirillum rubrum. Antonie van Leeuwenhoeck, J. Microbiol. Serol. 41, 273–286 (1975)
Oelze, J., Pahlke, W.: The early formation of the photosynthetic apparatus in Rhodospirillum rubrum. Arch. Microbiol. 108, 281–285 (1976)
Okayama, S., Yamamoto, N., Nishikawa, K., Horio, T.: Roles of ubiquinone 10 and rhodoquinone in photosynthetic formation of ATP by chromatophores from Rhodospirillum rubrum. J. Biol. Chem. 243, 2995–2999 (1968)
Parks, L. C., Niederman, R. A.: Membranes of Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides. V. Identification of bacteriochlorophyll a-depleted cytoplasmic membrane in phototrophically grown cells. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 511, 70–82 (1978)
Schumacher, A., Drews, G.: The formation of bacteriochlorophyll protein complexes of the photosynthetic apparatus of Rhodopseudomonas capsulata during early stages of development. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 501, 183–194 (1978)
Shepherd, W. D., Kaplan, S.: Effect of heat and 2-mercaptoethanol on intractoplasmic membrane polypeptides of Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides. J. Bacteriol. 135, 656–667 (1978)
Straley, S. C., Parson, W. W., Mauzerall, D. C., Clayton, R. K.: Pigment content and molar extinction coefficients of photochemical reaction centers from Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 305, 597–609 (1973)
Wakim, B., Golecki, J. R., Oelze, J.: The unusual mode of altering the cellular membrane contents by Rhodospirillum tenue. FEMS Microbiology Letters, 4, 199–201 (1978)
Weissbach, A., Hurwitz, J.: The formation of 2-keto-3-deoxyheptonic acid in extracts of Escherichia coli. B. J. Biol. Chem. 234, 705–709 (1959)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wakim, B., Schrader, M. & Oelze, J. Characterization of cell-envelope fractions of chemotrophically and phototrophically grown Rhodospirillum tenue . Arch. Microbiol. 123, 287–293 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00406663
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00406663