Cytochrome c-550, a low-potential c-type cytochrome, and a 12-kDa protein were recently shown to be associated extrinsically and stoichiometrically with purified photosystem II (PSII) complex of the thermophilic cyanobacterium Synechococcus vulcanus [Shen, J.-R., Ikeuchi, M., & Inoue, Y. (1992) FEBS Lett. 301, 145-149]. The binding and functional properties of these two extrinsic components in PSII were studied by means of release-reconstitution and thermoluminescence techniques. The following results were obtained: (i) cyt c-550 rebound appreciably to cyanobacterial PSII in the absence of the 33- and 12-kDa extrinsic proteins, but the presence of these two proteins facilitated the rebinding, affording a full level of binding equal to that in native PSII. (ii) The 12-kDa protein did not rebind to PSII at all unless the 33-kDa protein or cyt c-550 was present. It rebound only partially in the presence of either of these two proteins, but it rebound maximally when reconstituted together with both of them. (iii) Reconstitution with cyt c-550 or the 12-kDa protein alone in the absence of the 33-kDa protein did not restore the O2-evolving activity of CaCl2-washed PSII. Reconstitution with cyt c-550 in combination with the 33-kDa protein appreciably enhanced the activity, but the activity restoration was much more marked and reached a level close to that of the original activity when all three extrinsic proteins were included.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)