Structure of PSI-LHCI fromCyanidium caldariumprovides evolutionary insights into conservation and diversity of red-lineage LHCs

Abstract

AbstractLight-harvesting complexes (LHCs) are diversified among photosynthetic organisms, and their structural variety in photosystem I-LHC (PSI-LHCI) supercomplexes has been shown. However, structural and evolutionary correlations of red-lineage LHCs are unknown. Here we determined a 1.92-Å resolution cryo-electron microscopic structure of a PSI-LHCI supercomplex isolated from the red algaCyanidium caldariumRK-1 (NIES-2137) which is an important taxon in the Cyanidiophyceae, and subsequently investigated these correlations through structural comparisons and phylogenetic analysis. The PSI-LHCI structure shows five LHCI subunits together with a PSI-monomer core. The five LHCIs are composed of two Lhcr1s, two Lhcr2s, and one Lhcr3. Phylogenetic analysis of LHCs bound to PSI in red-lineage algae showed clear orthology of LHCs betweenC. caldariumandCyanidioschyzon merolae, whereas no orthologous relationships were found betweenC. caldariumLhcr1–3 and LHCs in other red-lineage PSI-LHCI structures. These findings provide evolutionary insights into conservation and diversity of red-lineage LHCs associated with PSI.