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In cyanobacteria and plants, VIPP1 plays crucial roles in the biogenesis and repair of thylakoid membrane protein complexes and in coping with chloroplast membrane stress. In chloroplasts, VIPP1 localizes in distinct patterns at or close to envelope and thylakoid membranes. In vitro, VIPP1 forms higher-order oligomers of >1 MDa that organize into rings and rods. However, it remains unknown how VIPP1 oligomerization is related to function. Using time-resolved fluorescence anisotropy and sucrose density gradient centrifugation, we show here that Chlamydomonas reinhardtii VIPP1 binds strongly to liposomal membranes containing phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate (PI4P). Cryo-electron tomography reveals that VIPP1 oligomerizes into rods that can engulf liposomal membranes containing PI4P. These findings place VIPP1 into a group of membrane-shaping proteins including epsin and BAR domain proteins. Moreover, they point to a potential role of phosphatidylinositols in directing the shaping of chloroplast membranes.
VIPP proteins aid thylakoid biogenesis and membrane maintenance in cyanobacteria, algae, and plants. Some members of the Chlorophyceae contain two VIPP paralogs termed VIPP1 and VIPP2, which originate from an early gene duplication event during the evolution of green algae. VIPP2 is barely expressed under nonstress conditions but accumulates in cells exposed to high light intensities or H2O2, during recovery from heat stress, and in mutants with defective integration (alb3.1) or translocation (secA) of thylakoid membrane proteins. Recombinant VIPP2 forms rod-like structures in vitro and shows a strong affinity for phosphatidylinositol phosphate. Under stress conditions, >70% of VIPP2 is present in membrane fractions and localizes to chloroplast membranes. A vipp2 knock-out mutant displays no growth phenotypes and no defects in the biogenesis or repair of photosystem II. However, after exposure to high light intensities, the vipp2 mutant accumulates less HSP22E/F and more LHCSR3 protein and transcript. This suggests that VIPP2 modulates a retrograde signal for the expression of nuclear genes HSP22E/F and LHCSR3. Immunoprecipitation of VIPP2 from solubilized cells and membrane-enriched fractions revealed major interactions with VIPP1 and minor interactions with HSP22E/F. Our data support a distinct role of VIPP2 in sensing and coping with chloroplast membrane stress.