Disease relevance of bchP

• Physical mapping and functional assignment of the geranylgeranyl-bacteriochlorophyll reductase gene, bchP, of Rhodobacter sphaeroides [1].
• We propose that Rhodospirillum rubrum is a naturally occurring bchP mutant and that an insertion mutation may have been the initial cause of a partial loss of function [2].
• Upon heterologous expression of the Synechocystis bchP homologue, not only are hydrogenated forms of bchlaGG detectable, but the level of LH2 is increased and the red-shift reversed by several nm [3].

High impact information on bchP

• In addition to bchP, other members of a photosynthesis gene cluster were identified in Rhodospirillum rubrum, including a bchG gene, demonstrated to encode a functional Bchl synthetase by complementation of a Rhodobacter sphaeroides mutant [2].
• The bchP gene product of Rhodobacter sphaeroides is responsible for the reduction of the isoprenoid moiety of bacteriochlorophyll (Bchl) from geranylgeraniol (GG) to phytol; here, we show that this enzyme also catalyzes the reduction of the isoprenoid moiety of bacteriopheophytin (Bphe) [2].

Associations of bchP with chemical compounds

• An R. sphaeroides transposon mutant in this gene, bchP, possessed a structurally modified photosystem assembled with bacteriochlorophyll esterified with geranylgeraniol, rather than with phytol, implying that the product of this gene was geranylgeranyl-bacteriochlorophyll reductase [1].

References