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Abstract :
[en] In photosystem I (PSI), phylloquinone participates to electron transfer as secondary electron acceptor (A1). The phylloquinone biosynthesis pathway, previously characterized by reverse genetic in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, involves 8 enzymatic steps from chorismate [1]. In the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, characterization of phylloquinone biosynthesis was still partial and only one mutant deficient for MEND was characterized [2]. In the present work, we found MENA-H homologs in C. reinhardtii genomic database. In particular, MENF, MEND, MENC, and MENH catalytic domains are present in a single ORF (named PHYLLO by similarity to gene organisation in Arabidopsis). We then took advantage of the fact that a double reduction of plastoquinone (PQ) in PQH2 occurs in anoxia into the A1 site in the mend mutant, interrupting photosynthetic electron transfer [3], to isolate new phylloquinone-deficient strains. UPLC-MS analysis confirmed the absence of phylloquinone in four news mutants impaired in MENA, MENB, MENC (PHYLLO) and MENE. Despite this loss, men mutants are still able to grow in low light but are high light-sensitive. In low light, the level of active PSII in men mutants is identical to that of the wild-type, but the level of active PSI is reduced by 30-40% as assayed by spectroscopic measurements. This decrease is more pronounced when cells are exposed to high light intensities during 4 hours. The level of active PSI is ~ 10% of wild-type cells and the electron photosynthetic transfer is reduced accordingly. Reorganization of the photosynthetic apparatus following lack of phylloquinone in men mutants is discussed.