Photoinduced degradation of the D1 polypeptide in isolated reaction centers of photosystem II: evidence for an autoproteolytic process triggered by the oxidizing side of the photosystem.

When the isolated D1/D2/cytochrome b559 complex was exposed to bright light, a distinctive pattern of D1 polypeptide fragments was observed under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The major degradation product had an apparent molecular mass of 24 kDa, while other fragments were detected at 17, 14, and 10 kDa by immunoblotting. This pattern was observed when the electron acceptors 2,5-dibromo-3-methyl-6-isopropyl-p-benzoquinone or silicomolybdate were present during illumination. It is known that these conditions stabilize P680+ chlorophyll and bring about the photooxidation and destruction of pigments in the reaction center, particularly chlorophyll absorbing at 670 nm and beta-carotene. When P680+ was not allowed to accumulate, either by omission of an electron acceptor or by addition of both an electron donor (Mn2+) and an acceptor, no breakdown fragments were observed. In the former case, however, some degradation of the D1 and D2 polypeptides did occur. Under conditions that gave rise to the characteristic D1 breakdown pattern, the D2 polypeptide was also degraded to specific fragments detected at about 29 and 21 kDa by immunoblotting. The results indicate that the photoinduced degradation of D1 (and D2) does not involve exogenous proteases but is most likely an autoproteolytic process. Moreover, our data indicate that the photochemical damage giving rise to D1 and D2 degradation occurs on the oxidizing rather than the reducing side of photosystem II and involves photooxidation of the accessory pigments. The results are discussed in terms of D1 and D2 turnover and photoinhibition.