Fluorescence quenching of the phycobilisome terminal emitter LCM from the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 detected in vivo and in vitro

[Display omitted] •Fluorescence of LCM-polypeptide of the phycobilisome is quenched by orange carotenoid protein.•LCM quenching was studied by different methods in vitro and in vivo.•The 3D docking site of orange carotenoid protein and the phycobilisome core was demonstrated. The fluorescence emission of the phycobilisome (PBS) core-membrane linker protein (LCM) can be directly quenched by photoactivated orange carotenoid protein (OCP) at room temperature both in vitro and in vivo, which suggests the crucial role of the OCP–LCM interaction in non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) of cyanobacteria. This implication was further supported (i) by low-temperature (77K) fluorescence emission and excitation measurements which showed a specific quenching of the corresponding long-wavelength fluorescence bands which belong to the PBS terminal emitters in the presence of photoactivated OCP, (ii) by systematic investigation of the fluorescence quenching and recovery in wild type and LCM-less cells of the model cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, and (iii) by the impact of dephosphorylation of isolated PBS on the quenching. The OCP binding site within the PBS and the most probable geometrical arrangement of the OCP–allophycocyanin (APC) complex was determined in silico using the crystal structures of OCP and APC. Geometrically modeled attachment of OCP to the PBS core is not at variance with the OCP–LCM interaction. It was concluded that besides being a very central element in the PBS to reaction center excitation energy transfer and PBS assembly, LCM also has an essential role in the photoprotective light adaptation processes of cyanobacteria.