Conformational variability of cyanobacterial ChlI, the AAA+ motor of magnesium chelatase involved in chlorophyll biosynthesis.
Shvarev, D., Scholz, A.I., Moeller, A.(2023) mBio 14: e0189323-e0189323
- PubMed: 37737632 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.01893-23
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
8OSF, 8OSG, 8OSH - PubMed Abstract: 
Photosynthesis is an essential life process that relies on chlorophyll. In photosynthetic organisms, chlorophyll synthesis involves multiple steps and depends on magnesium chelatase. This enzyme complex is responsible for inserting magnesium into the chlorophyll precursor, but the molecular mechanism of this process is not fully understood. By using cryogenic electron microscopy and conducting functional analyses, we have discovered that the motor subunit ChlI of magnesium chelatase undergoes conformational changes in the presence of ATP. Our findings offer new insights into how energy is transferred from ChlI to the other components of magnesium chelatase. This information significantly contributes to our understanding of the initial step in chlorophyll biosynthesis and lays the foundation for future studies on the entire process of chlorophyll production.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Structural Biology Section, Department of Biology/Chemistry, Osnabrück University , Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, Germany.