Calcium-dependent regulation of cyclic photosynthetic electron transfer by a CAS, ANR1, and PGRL1 complex

Cyclic photosynthetic electron flow (CEF) is crucial to photosynthesis because it participates in the control of chloroplast energy and redox metabolism, and it is particularly induced under adverse environmental conditions. Here we report that down-regulation of the chloroplast localized Ca2+ sensor (CAS) protein by an RNAi approach in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii results in strong inhibition of CEF under anoxia. Importantly, this inhibition is rescued by an increase in the extracellular Ca2+ concentration, inferring that CEF is Ca2+-dependent. Furthermore, we identified a protein, anaerobic response 1 (ANR1), that is also required for effective acclimation to anaerobiosis. Depletion of ANR1 by artificial microRNA expression mimics the CAS-depletion phenotype, and under anaerobic conditions the two proteins coexist within a large active photosystem I-cytochrome b6/f complex. Moreover, we provide evidence that CAS and ANR1 interact with each other as well as with PGR5-Like 1 (PGRL1) in vivo. Overall our data establish a Ca2+-dependent regulation of CEF via the combined function of ANR1, CAS, and PGRL1, associated with each other in a multiprotein complex.