Abstract
We discovered that pigments including carotenoids and (bacterio)chlorophylls in pigment–protein complexes, membrane fragments, and chlorosomes suspended in water could be injected directly into C18 HPLC and analyzed without any other treatments. We applied this method to LH1-RC and chromatophores of purple bacteria, chlorosomes of green sulfur bacteria, thylakoid membranes of cyanobacteria, and PSII and thylakoid membranes of spinach. HPLC elution profiles and pigment composition were the same as those of the conventional extraction method. The principle of this method might be that samples are first trapped on top of column, followed by the immediate extraction of the pigments with the HPLC eluent and their separation using the C18 column, as usual. In the conventional extraction method, pigments are first extracted with organic solvents, followed by evaporation of the solvents. The dried pigments are then dissolved in organic solvents and injected into C18 HPLC after filtration. The advantages of this method include the preventions of pigment isomerization and oxidation and the possibility of injecting all samples. Its drawbacks include the accumulation of denatured proteins at the top of column, causing increased HPLC pressure. The use of a guard column might solve this problem. Many factors, such as samples, column, and HPLC systems, may affect this method. Nevertheless, we think that some samples can be analyzed using this method.
References
Davies BH, Köst H-P (1988) Carotenoids. In: Köst H-P (ed) Handbook of chromatography, plant pigments fat-soluble pigments, vol 1. CRC Press, Florida, pp 1–185
Graham JE, Lecomte JT, Bryant DA (2008) Synechoxanthin, an aromatic C40 xanthophyll that is a major carotenoid in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002. J Nat Prod 71:1647–1650
Harada J, Miyago S, Mizoguchi T, Azai C, Inoue K, Tamiaki H, Oh-oka H (2008) Accumulation of chlorophyllous pigments esterified with the geranylgenanyl group and photosynthetic competence in the CT2256-deleted mutant of the green sulfur bacterium Chlorobium tepidum. Photochem Photobiol Sci 7:1179–1187
Hihara Y, Kamei A, Kanehisa M, Kaplan A, Ikeuchi M (2001) DNA microarray analysis of cyanobacterial gene expression during acclimation to high light. Plant Cell 13:793–806
Kawasaki S, Mizoguchi K, Sato M, Kono T, Shimizu H (2013) A novel astaxanthin-binding photooxidative stress-inducible aqueous carotenoprotein from a eukaryotic microalga isolated from asphalt in midsummer. Plant Cell Phyisol 54:1027–1040
Kimura Y, Lyu S, Okoshi A, Okazaki K, Nakamura N, Ohashi A, Ohno T, Kobayashi M, Imanishi M, Takaichi S, Madigan MT, Wang-Otomo Z-Y (2017) Effect of calcium ions on the thermostability and spectroscopic properties of the LH1-RC complex from a new thermophilic purple bacterium Allochromatium tepidum. J Phys Chem B 121:5025–5032
Kuwabara T, Murata N (1982) Inactivation of photosynthetic oxygen evolution and concomitant release of three polypeptides in the photosystem II particles of spinach chloroplasts. Plant Cell Physiol 23:533–539
Madigan MT (1986) Chromatium tepidum sp. nov., a thermophilic photosynthetic bacterium of the family Chromatiaceae. Int J Syst Bacteriol 36:222–227
Pfander H, Riesen R (1995) Chromatography: High-performance liquid chromatography. In: Britton G, Liaaen-Jense S, Pfander H (eds) Carotenoids isolation and analysis, vol 1A. Birkhäuser, Basel, pp 145–190
Scheer H (1988) Chlorophylls. In: Köst H-P (ed) Handbook of chromatography, plant pigments fat-soluble pigments, vol 1. CRC Press, Florida, pp 233–330
Schiedt K, Liaaen-Jensen S (1995) Isolation and analysis. In: Britton G, Liaaen-Jense S, Pfander H (eds) Carotenoids isolation and analysis, vol 1A. Birkhäuser, Basel, pp 81–108
Takaichi S (2000) Characterization of carotenes in a combination of a C18 HPLC column with isocratic elution and absorption spectra with a photodiode-array detector. Photosynth Res 65:93–99
Takaichi S, Oh-oka H (1999) Pigment composition in the reaction center complex from the thermophilic green sulfur bacterium, Chlorobium tepidum: carotenoid glucoside esters, menaquinone and chlorophylls. Plant Cell Physiol 40:691–694
Takaichi S, Shimada K (1992) Characterization of carotenoids in photosynthetic bacteria. Methods Enzymol 213:374–385
Takaichi S, Maoka T, Masamoto K (2001) Myxoxanthophyll in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 is myxol 2′-dimethyl-fucoside, (3R,2′S)-myxol 2′-(2,4-di-O-methyl-α-L-fucoside), not rhamnoside. Plant Cell Physiol 42:756–762
Takaichi S, Mochimaru M, Maoka T, Katoh H (2005) Myxol and 4-ketomyxol 2′-fucosides, not rhamnosides, from Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 and Nostoc punctiforme PCC 73102, and proposal for the biosynthetic pathway of carotenoids. Plant Cell Physiol 46:479–504
Takaichi S, Wang Z-Y, Umetsu M, Nozawa T, Shimada K, Madigan MT (1997) New carotenoids from the thermophilic green sulfur bacterium Chlorobium tepidum: 1′,2′-dihydro-γ-carotene, 1′,2′-dihydrochlorobactene, and OH-chlorobactene glucoside ester, and the carotenoid composition of different stains. Arch Microbiol 168:270–276
Terashima I, Kashino I, Katoh S (1991) Exposure of leaves of Cucumis sativus L. to low temperatures in the light causes uncoupling of thylakoids I. Studies with isolated thylakoids. Plant Cell Physiol 32:1267–1274
Vassilieva EV, Antonkine ML, Zybailov BL, Yang F, Jakobs CU, Golbeck JH, Bryant DA (2001) Electron transfer may occur in the chlorosome envelope: the CsmI and CsmJ proteins of chlorosomes are 2FE-2S ferredoxins. Biochemistry 40:464–473
Acknowledgements
AstaP was a kind gift of Mr. H. Toyoshima and Dr. S. Kawasaki, Tokyo University of Agriculture. This work was supported in part by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP16H04174 and JP18H05153 to S.O.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Takaichi, S., Okoshi, A., Otomo, S. et al. Direct injection of pigment–protein complexes and membrane fragments suspended in water from phototrophs to C18 HPLC. Photosynth Res 144, 101–107 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-020-00735-w
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-020-00735-w