Article
- The EMBO Journal (2007) 26, 1467 - 1473
- doi:10.1038/sj.emboj.7601594
Published online: 15 February 2007
Subject Categories:
Thylakoid membrane perforations and connectivity enable intracellular traffic in cyanobacteria
Reinat Nevo1, Dana Charuvi1,2, Eyal Shimoni3, Rakefet Schwarz4, Aaron Kaplan5, Itzhak Ohad5 and Ziv Reich1
- Department of Biological Chemistry, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- The Robert H Smith Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel
- Electron Microscopy Unit, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
- The Institute of Life Sciences and Avron-Even-Ari Minerva Center for Photosynthesis Research, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
Correspondence to:
Ziv Reich, Department of Biological Chemistry, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel. Tel.: +972 8 934 2982; Fax: +972 8 934 6010; E-mail: ziv.reich@weizmann.ac.il
Received 28 September 2006; Accepted 12 January 2007
Abstract
Cyanobacteria, the progenitors of plant and algal chloroplasts, enabled aerobic life on earth by introducing oxygenic photosynthesis. In most cyanobacteria, the photosynthetic membranes are arranged in multiple, seemingly disconnected, concentric shells. In such an arrangement, it is unclear how intracellular trafficking proceeds and how different layers of the photosynthetic membranes communicate with each other to maintain photosynthetic homeostasis. Using electron microscope tomography, we show that the photosynthetic membranes of two distantly related cyanobacterial species contain multiple perforations. These perforations, which are filled with particles of different sizes including ribosomes, glycogen granules and lipid bodies, allow for traffic throughout the cell. In addition, different layers of the photosynthetic membranes are joined together by internal bridges formed by branching and fusion of the membranes. The result is a highly connected network, similar to that of higher-plant chloroplasts, allowing water-soluble and lipid-soluble molecules to diffuse through the entire membrane network. Notably, we observed intracellular membrane-bounded vesicles, which were frequently fused to the photosynthetic membranes and may play a role in transport to these membranes.
Keywords:
- cyanobacteria,
- electron tomography,
- intracellular trafficking,
- photosynthetic (thylakoid) membranes,
- vesicles
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