TY - JOUR A1 - Kölsch, Adrian A1 - Radon, C. A1 - Golub, M. A1 - Baumert, A. A1 - Bürger, Jörg A1 - Mielke, Thorsten A1 - Lisdat, Fred A1 - Feoktystov, A. A1 - Pieper, J. A1 - Zouni, Athina A1 - Wendler, P. T1 - Current limits of structural biology: The transient interaction between cytochrome c6 and photosystem I JF - Current Research in Structural Biology N2 - Trimeric photosystem I from the cyanobacterium Thermosynechococcus elongatus (TePSI) is an intrinsic membrane protein, which converts solar energy into electrical energy by oxidizing the soluble redox mediator cytochrome c6 (Cyt c6) and reducing ferredoxin. Here, we use cryo-electron microscopy and small angle neutron scattering (SANS) to characterize the transient binding of Cyt c6 to TePSI. The structure of TePSI cross-linked to Cyt c6 was solved at a resolution of 2.9 Å and shows additional cofactors as well as side chain density for 84% of the peptide chain of subunit PsaK, revealing a hydrophobic, membrane intrinsic loop that enables binding of associated proteins. Due to the poor binding specificity, Cyt c6 could not be localized with certainty in our cryo-EM analysis. SANS measurements confirm that Cyt c6 does not bind to TePSI at protein concentrations comparable to those for cross-linking. However, SANS data indicate a complex formation between TePSI and the non-native mitochondrial cytochrome from horse heart (Cyt cHH). Our study pinpoints the difficulty of identifying very small binding partners (less than 5% of the overall size) in EM structures when binding affinities are poor. We relate our results to well resolved co-structures with known binding affinities and recommend confirmatory methods for complexes with KM values higher than 20 μM. Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:526-opus4-13628 SN - 2665-928X VL - 2 SP - 171 EP - 179 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kölsch, Adrian A1 - Hejazi, Mahdi A1 - Stieger, Kai Ralf A1 - Feifel, Sven Christian A1 - Kern, Jan F. A1 - Müh, Frank A1 - Lisdat, Fred A1 - Lokstein, Heiko A1 - Zouni, Athina T1 - Insights into the binding behavior of native and non-native cytochromes to photosystem I from Thermosynechococcus elongatus JF - Journal of Biological Chemistry N2 - The binding of photosystem I (PS I) from Thermosynechococcus elongatus to the native cytochrome (cyt) c6 and cyt c from horse heart (cyt cHH) was analyzed by oxygen consumption measurements, isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), and rigid body docking combined with electrostatic computations of binding energies. Although PS I has a higher affinity for cyt cHH than for cyt c6, the influence of ionic strength and pH on binding is different in the two cases. ITC and theoretical computations revealed the existence of unspecific binding sites for cyt cHH besides one specific binding site close to P700. Binding to PS I was found to be the same for reduced and oxidized cyt cHH. Based on this information, suitable conditions for cocrystallization of cyt cHH with PS I were found, resulting in crystals with a PS I:cyt cHH ratio of 1:1. A crystal structure at 3.4-Å resolution was obtained, but cyt cHH cannot be identified in the electron density map because of unspecific binding sites and/or high flexibility at the specific binding site. Modeling the binding of cyt c6 to PS I revealed a specific binding site where the distance and orientation of cyt c6 relative to P700 are comparable with cyt c2 from purple bacteria relative to P870. This work provides new insights into the binding modes of different cytochromes to PS I, thus facilitating steps toward solving the PS I–cyt c costructure and a more detailed understanding of natural electron transport processes. Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:526-opus4-12780 SN - 1083-351X VL - 293 IS - 23 SP - 9090 EP - 9100 ER -