REDOX BIOCHEMISTRY IN PLANTS AND CYANOBACTERIA

FLAVOENZYMES AND THIOL-DEPENDENT REDOX SIGNALING-REGULATION IN PHOTOSYNTHESIS: A STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL STUDY (FADSH)

Referencia: PID2019-110900GB-I00

Funding Entity: Ministry of Science and Innovation. State Programme for the Generation of Knowledge and Scientific and Technological Strengthening of the R&D&I System.

Principal Investigator: Balsera M.

Duración: 01/06/2020-31/05/2024

Summary

One of the mechanisms of metabolic regulation and oxidation/reduction balance that exists in cells is related to the reversible chemical modification of thiol groups in proteins and other small molecules.

Flavin-dependent thioredoxin reductases are the most common thioredoxin reductases in all organisms and catalyze the reduction of the thioredoxin protein in an NADPH-dependent reaction. The thioredoxin protein, in turn, reduces selected proteins by reversible disulfide/dithiol (S-S/SH) exchanges, thus regulating cellular metabolism.

In recent years, our research group has described two families of flavin-dependent thioredoxin reductases that receive reducing power from the protein ferredoxin, and not from pyridine nucleotides, thus connecting the thioredoxin-dependent redox regulatory system with photosynthesis and fermentation processes.

The requested project will continue with the structural and functional characterization of thioredoxin reductase families present in photosynthetic organisms. The study will be extended to other proteins related to thioredoxins, but with divergent evolution.

Our results will reveal novel structural and functional aspects that give the thioredoxin system the ability to regulate carbon metabolism in photosynthetic organisms in response to diverse environmental factors.