Newly found protein helps plants build their light-capturing machinery
Gao F, Xin Q, Zhang L, Cai L, Ruan J
Plant Signaling
Every leaf in your garden relies on this exact assembly process to turn sunlight into the energy that fuels growth, flowering, and fruit.
Plants convert sunlight into usable energy using a tiny molecular machine called Photosystem I, but scientists didn't fully understand how its core pieces get built. Researchers studying Arabidopsis, a small mustard plant used as a lab model, found a protein named PSA4 that teams up with a known helper protein to guide two key building blocks into place. When PSA4 is missing, this construction process breaks down and the plant can't make enough of the light-capturing machine.
Key Findings
PSA4 is a thylakoid membrane protein conserved across land plants and green algae that physically binds the assembly factor YCF4
Loss of PSA4 destabilizes YCF4 and impairs accumulation of Photosystem I, specifically reducing synthesis of the PsaA and PsaB reaction center subunits without affecting translation initiation
Both the N- and C-termini of YCF4 face the thylakoid lumen and directly contact four luminal loops of the PsaA/PsaB heterodimer, revealing the structural basis of the assembly complex
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists discovered a protein called PSA4 that partners with another factor to help plants build the core engine of photosynthesis. Without it, plants can't properly assemble Photosystem I, the molecular machine that captures light energy for growth.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
A PSA4-YCF4 complex promotes assembly of the photosystem I reaction center in Arabidopsis.
Photosystem I (PSI) is one of nature's most intricate and efficient nanomachines driving photosynthetic electron transfer. Its biogenesis requires a sophisticated, multi-step assembly pathway coord...
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