Thioredoxin (Trx) is a redox-responsive protein that modulates the activities of its target proteins mostly by reducing their disulfide bonds. In chloroplasts, five Trx isoforms (Trx-f, Trx-m, Trx-x, Trx-y, and Trx-z) regulate various photosynthesis-related enzymes with distinct target selectivity. To elucidate the determinants of the target selectivity of each Trx isoform, here we investigated the residues responsible for target recognition by Trx-f, the most well-studied chloroplast-resident Trx. As reported previously, we found that positively-charged residues on the Trx-f surface are involved in the interactions with its targets. Moreover, several residues that are specifically conserved in Trx-f (e.g. Cys-126 and Thr-158) were also involved in interactions with target proteins. The validity of these residues was examined by the molecular dynamics simulation. In addition, we validated the impact of these key residues on target protein reduction by studying (i) Trx-m variants into which we introduced the key residues for Trx-f and (ii) Trx-like proteins, named atypical Cys His-rich Trx 1 (ACHT1) and ACHT2a, that also contain these key residues. These artificial or natural protein variants could reduce Trx-f–specific targets, indicating that the key residues for Trx-f are critical for Trx-f–specific target recognition. Furthermore, we demonstrate that ACHT1 and ACHT2a efficiently oxidize some Trx-f–specific targets, suggesting that its target selectivity also contributes to the oxidative regulation process. Our results reveal the key residues for Trx-f–specific target recognition and uncover ACHT1 and ACHT2a as oxidation factors of their target proteins, providing critical insight into redox regulation of photosynthesis.
Crystal structure of chloroplastic thioredoxin z defines a type‐specific target recognition