NdhV Is a Subunit of NADPH Dehydrogenase Essential for Cyclic Electron Transport in Synechocystis sp. Strain PCC 6803

Two mutants sensitive to heat stress for growth and impaired in NADPH dehydrogenase (NDH-1)-dependent cyclic electron transport around photosystem I (NDH-CET) were isolated from the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803 transformed with a transposon-bearing library. Both mutants had a tag in the same sll0272 gene, encoding a protein highly homologous to NdhV identified in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Deletion of the sll0272 gene (ndhV) did not influence the assembly of NDH-1 complexes and the activities of CO2 uptake and respiration but reduced the activity of NDH-CET. NdhV interacted with NdhS, a ferredoxin-binding subunit of cyanobacterial NDH-1 complex. Deletion of NdhS completely abolished NdhV, but deletion of NdhV had no effect on the amount of NdhS. Reduction of NDH-CET activity was more significant in ΔndhS than in ΔndhV. We therefore propose that NdhV cooperates with NdhS to accept electrons from reduced ferredoxin.