A 4-kDa maize chloroplast polypeptide associated with the cytochrome b6-f complex: subunit 5, encoded by the chloroplast petE gene.

Four polypeptides, three of which are chloroplast-encoded, have been shown to be associated with the thylakoid membrane cytochrome b6-f complex. In this report, the gene for a fifth polypeptide, which copurifies with the b6-f complex, is identified through the use of an antibody generated against a synthetic decapeptide predicted from a maize chloroplast DNA sequence. The deduced 37-amino acid sequence of the immunoreactive 4-kDa polypeptide is 100% and 86% conserved in the respective similar open reading frames encoded by Nicotiana tabacum and Marchantia chloroplast DNA. The 4-kDa polypeptide is present in both etioplasts and chloroplasts of maize and is found as well in spinach, tobacco, pea, wheat, and rice thylakoids. Similar to the other subunits of the b6-f complex, it is intrinsic to the membrane, and its hydrophilic COOH terminus is located at the stromal thylakoid surface. We propose to call the 4-kDa polypeptide "subunit 5" and the chloroplast gene that encodes it the petE gene.