Molecular heterogeneity of photosystem I. psaD, psaE, psaF, psaH, and psaL are all present in isoforms in Nicotiana spp.

The protein composition of photosystem I (PSI) was examined in Nicotiana spp. by high-resolution polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, N-terminal amino acid sequencing, and immunoblot analysis. Five PSI proteins show polymorphism in an amphidiploid species, Nicotiana tabacum, but not in its ancestral diploid species, Nicotiana sylvestris and Nicotiana tomentosiformis. These Nicotiana spp. appear to have at least 18 PSI proteins per genome that range in molecular mass from 3 to 20 kD. They include the products of nuclear genes psaD, psaE, psaF, psaG, psaH, psaK, and psaL, the product of chloroplast gene psaC, N-terminally blocked proteins of 4.5 and 3.0 kD, and an unidentified protein of 12.5 kD. The psaD, psaF, psaH, and psaL products have two isoforms each that are distinguished by different mobilities in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and the psaE product has four isoforms. The two isoforms of the psaD product have distinct amino acid sequences, indicating that they are encoded by different genes within the genome. Four isoforms of the psaE products can be classified into two groups by N-terminal amino acid sequence, indicating that at least two psaE genes are present in the genome. To examine whether the polymorphic nature of PSI is peculiar to Nicotiana spp., we carried out immunoblot analysis of the psaD and psaE products in isogenic lines of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum), Arabidopsis thaliana, red bean (Vigna angularis), and corn (Zea mays). Two electrophoretically distinct isoforms were found for the psaD products of tomato, A. thaliana, and corn, and two isoforms of psaE products were detected in tomato, A. thaliana, and red bean. These results suggest that the nuclear-encoded subunits of PSI, except for the psaG and psaK products, generally have two isoforms.