Skip to main content
Log in

Regulation and molecular structure of a circadian oscillating protein located in the cell membrane of the prokaryote Synechococcus RF-1

  • Published:
Planta Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

When a light/light-adapted culture of Synechococcus RF-1 is exposed to a diurnal light/dark regimen, the synthesis of more than ten of its polypeptides is known to become entrained to a circadian oscillating pattern which persists for some time under free-running conditions. One of the circadian oscillating polypeptides, COP23, was found to be located in the cell membrane. The rate of COP23 synthesis is controlled at the transcription level. In addition to the protein synthesis rate, the content of COP23 also exhibited a circadian rhythm. Pulse labeling with [35S]methionine revealed that COP23 was relatively stable in an arrhythmic culture. However, the exposure of Synechococcus RF-1 to a light/dark regimen induced not only a circadian synthesis rhythm, but also a rapid degradation of COP23 protein at a defined period of time. The induction of rapid protein degradation was prevented by the presence of chloramphenicol. The gene encoding the COP23 polypeptide has been cloned and sequenced. The amino acid sequence derived from the open-reading frame revealed that a signal peptide (28 amino acids) does not appear to be part of the mature COP23. The mature COP23 does not have a membrane-associated segment, and it is suggested to be a peripheral molecule. With respect to their DNA base sequence and protein amino acid sequence, none of the proteins documented in the EMBL and PC/Gene data bases are significantly homologous with the COP23 molecule.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

D:

darkness

L:

light

References

  • Baylies MK, Weiner L, Vosshall LB, Saez L, Young MW (1993) Genetic, molecular, and cellular studies of the per locus and its products in Drosophila melanogaster. In: Young MW (ed) Molecular genetics of biological rhythms. Marcel Dekker. New York, pp 123–153

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen T-H, Chen T-L, Hung L-M, Huang T-C (1991) Circadian rhythm in amino acid uptake by Synechococcus RF-1. Plant Physiol 97: 55–59

    Google Scholar 

  • Chou H-M, Huang T-C (1991) Ultrastructure of the aerobic, nitrogen-fixing unicellular cyanobacteria Synechococcus sp. RF-1. Arch Hydrobiol/Suppl 92. Algol Studies 64: 53–59

    Google Scholar 

  • Chow T-J, Tabita FR (1994) Reciprocal light-dark transcriptional control of nif and rbc expression and light-dependent posttranslational control of nitrogenase activity in Synechococcus sp. strain RF-1. J Bacteriol 176: 6281–6285

    Google Scholar 

  • Cornelius G, Schoeder-Lorenz A, Rensing L (1985) Circadian-clock control of protein synthesis and degradation in Gonyaulax polyedra. Planta 166: 365–370

    Google Scholar 

  • Edmunds Jr, LN (ed) (1988) Cellular and molecular bases of biological clocks. Springer-Verlag, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Edmunds Jr, LN, Cirrilo VP (1974) On the interplay among cell cycle, biological clock and membrane transport control systems. Int J Chonobiol 2: 233–246

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hewick RM, Huankapiller MW, Hood LE, Dreyer WJ (1981) A gasliquid solid phase peptide and protein sequenator. J Biol Chem 256: 7990–7997

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang T-C, Chow T-J (1986) New type of N2-fixing unicellular cyanobacterium. FEMS Microbiol Lett 36: 109–110

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang T-C, Chow T-J (1990) Characterization of the rhythmic nitrogen-fixing activity of Synechococcus RF-1 at the transcriptional level. Curr Microbiol 20: 23–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang T-C, Grobbelaar N (1995) The circadian clock in the prokaryote Synechococcus RF-1. Microbiology 141: 535–540

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang T-C, Tu J, Chow T-J, Chen T-H (1990) Circadian rhythm of the prokaryote Synechococcus RF-1. Plant Physiol 92: 531–533

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang T-C, Chen H-M, Pen S-Y, Chen T-H (1994) Biological clock in the prokaryote Synechococcus RF-1. Planta 193: 131–136

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee D-H, Mittag M, Sczekan S, Morse D, Hastings JW (1993) Molecular cloning and genomic organization of a gene for luciferin-binding protein from the dinoflagellate Gonyaulax polyedra. J Biol Chem 268: 8842–8850

    Google Scholar 

  • Loros JJ, Lichens-Park A, Lindgren KM, Dunlap JC (1993) Molecular genetics of genes under circadian temporal control in Neurospora. In: Young MW (ed) Molecular genetics of biological rhythms. Marcel Dekker, New York, pp 55–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Millar AJ, Short SR, Chua N-H, Kay SA (1992) A novel circadian phenotype based on firefly luciferase expression in transgenic plants. Plant Cell 4: 1075–1087

    Google Scholar 

  • Njus D, Sulzman FM, Hastings JW (1974) Membrane model for the circadian clock. Nature 248: 116–120

    Google Scholar 

  • Omata T, Murata N (1983) Isolation and characterization of the cytoplasmic membranes from the blue-green alga (cyanobacterium) Anacystis nidulans. Plant Cell Physiol 24: 1101–1112

    Google Scholar 

  • Ortwin J, de Groot EJ, Schweiger M (1994) On the molecular mechanism of the circadian clock: the 41,000 Mr clock protein of Chlorella was identified as 3-phosphoglycerate kinase. J Cell Sci 107: 719–726

    Google Scholar 

  • Page TL (1994) Time is the essence: molecular analysis of the biological clock. Science 263: 1570–1572

    Google Scholar 

  • Rojek R, Harms C, Hebeler M, Grimme LH (1994) Cyclic variations of photosynthetic activity under nitrogen fixing conditions in Synechococcus RF-1. Arch Microbiol 162: 80–84

    Google Scholar 

  • Sambrook J, Fritseh EF, Maniatis T eds (1989) Molecular cloning: a laboratory manual. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Sassone-Corsi P (1994) Rhythmic transcription and autoregulatory loops: winding up the biological clock. Cell 78: 361–364

    Google Scholar 

  • Schweiger HG, Schweiger M (1977) Circadian rhythms in unicellular organisms: an endeavor to explain the molecular mechanism. Int Rev Cytol 51: 315–342

    Google Scholar 

  • Stanier RY, Kunisawa R, Mandel M, Cohen-Bazire G (1971) Purification and properties of unicellular blue-green algae (order Chrococcales). Bact Rev 35: 171–205

    Google Scholar 

  • Takahashi JS, Kornhauser JM, Koumenis C, Eskin A (1993) Molecular approaches to understanding circadian oscillations. Annu Rev Physiol 55: 729–753

    Google Scholar 

  • von Heijne G (1985) Signal sequences, the limits of variation. J Mol Biol 184: 99–105

    Google Scholar 

  • Wada K, Aota S, Tsuchiya R, Ishibashi F, Gojobori T, Ikemura T (1990) Codon usage tabulated from the GenBand genetic sequence data. Nucleic Acids Res 18: 2367–2411

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkins MB (1992) Circadian rhythms: their origin and control. New Phytol 121: 347–375

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Additional information

This work was funded by the Academia Sinica and the National Science Council of the Republic of China. We wish to express our sincere thanks to Dr. N. Grobbelaar, University of Pretoria, for his critical reading of the manuscript. We thank Miss Chen Shu-Huey, National Cheng Kung University, for the analysis of amino acid sequences. We thank Miss Hsieh Chyong-Ere, Institute of Botany, Academia Sinica, for assistance with electron-microscopic observations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Chen, H.M., Chien, C.Y. & Huang, T.C. Regulation and molecular structure of a circadian oscillating protein located in the cell membrane of the prokaryote Synechococcus RF-1. Planta 199, 520–527 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00195182

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00195182

Key words

Navigation