Abstract

Background

The H subunit of the purple bacterial photosynthetic reaction center (PRC-H) is important for the assembly of the photosynthetic reaction center and appears to regulate electron transfer during the reduction of the secondary quinone. It contains a distinct cytoplasmic β-barrel domain whose fold has no close structural relationship to any other well known β-barrel domain.

Results

We show that the PRC-H β-barrel domain is the prototype of a novel superfamily of protein domains, the PRC-barrels, approximately 80 residues long, which is widely represented in bacteria, archaea and plants. This domain is also present at the carboxyl terminus of the pan-bacterial protein RimM, which is involved in ribosomal maturation and processing of 16S rRNA. A family of small proteins conserved in all known euryarchaea are composed entirely of a single stand-alone copy of the domain. Versions of this domain from photosynthetic proteobacteria contain a conserved acidic residue that is thought to regulate the reduction of quinones in the light-induced electron-transfer reaction. Closely related forms containing this acidic residue are also found in several non-photosynthetic bacteria, as well as in cyanobacteria, which have reaction centers with a different organization. We also show that the domain contains several determinants that could mediate specific protein-protein interactions.

Conclusions

The PRC-barrel is a widespread, ancient domain that appears to have been recruited to a variety of biological systems, ranging from RNA processing to photosynthesis. Identification of this versatile domain in numerous proteins could aid investigation of unexplored aspects of their biology.