Rubisco in marine symbiotic dinoflagellates: Form II enzymes in eukaryotic oxygenic phototrophs encoded by a nuclear multigene family

Genes encoding ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) were cloned from dinoflagellate symbionts (Symbiodinium spp) of the giant clam Tridacna gigas and characterized. Strikingly, Symbiodinium Rubisco is completely different from other eukaryotic (form I) Rubiscos: it is a form II enzyme that is similar to 65% identical to Rubisco from Rhodospirillum rubrum (Rubisco forms I and II are similar to 25 to 30% identical); it is nuclear encoded by a multigene family; and the predominantly expressed Rubisco is encoded as a precursor polyprotein. One clone appears to contain a predominantly expressed Rubisco locus (rbcA), as determined by RNA gel blot analysis of Symbiodinium RNA and sequencing of purified Rubisco protein. Another contains an enigmatic locus (rbcG) that exhibits an unprecedented pattern of amino acid replacement but does not appear to be a pseudogene. The expression of rbcG has not been analyzed; it was detected only in the minor of two taxa of Symbiodinium that occur together in T. gigas. This study confirms and describes a previously unrecognized branch of Rubisco's evolution: a eukaryotic form II enzyme that participates in oxygenic photosynthesis and is encoded by a diverse, nuclear multigene family.