scholarly journals Singlet oxygen, flavonols and photoinhibition in green and senescing silver birch leaves

Trees ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heta Mattila ◽  
Pooneh Sotoudehnia ◽  
Telma Kuuslampi ◽  
Ralf Stracke ◽  
Kumud B. Mishra ◽  
...  

Abstract Key message Decreased absorptance and increased singlet oxygen production may cause photoinhibition of both PSII and PSI in birch leaves during autumn senescence; however, photosynthetic electron transfer stays functional until late senescence. Abstract During autumn senescence, deciduous trees degrade chlorophyll and may synthesize flavonols. We measured photosynthetic parameters, epidermal flavonols, singlet oxygen production in vivo and photoinhibition of the photosystems (PSII and PSI) from green and senescing silver birch (Betula pendula) leaves. Chlorophyll a fluorescence and P700 absorbance measurements showed that the amounts of both photosystems decreased throughout autumn senescence, but the remaining PSII units stayed functional until ~ 90% of leaf chlorophyll was degraded. An increase in the chlorophyll a to b ratio, a decrease in > 700 nm absorbance and a blue shift of the PSI fluorescence peak at 77 K suggest that light-harvesting complex I was first degraded during senescence, followed by light-harvesting complex II and finally the photosystems. Senescing leaves produced more singlet oxygen than green leaves, possibly because low light absorption by senescing leaves allows high flux of incident light per photosystem. Senescing leaves also induced less non-photochemical quenching, which may contribute to increased singlet oxygen production. Faster photoinhibition of both photosystems in senescing than in green leaves, under high light, was most probably caused by low absorption of light and rapid singlet oxygen production. However, senescing leaves maintained the capacity to recover from photoinhibition of PSII. Amounts of epidermal flavonols and singlet oxygen correlated neither in green nor in senescing leaves of silver birch. Moreover, Arabidopsis thaliana mutants, incapable of synthesizing flavonols, were not more susceptible to photoinhibition of PSII or PSI than wild type plants; screening of chlorophyll absorption by flavonols was, however, small in A. thaliana. These results suggest that flavonols do not protect against photoinhibition or singlet oxygen production in chloroplasts.

2019 ◽  
Vol 476 (20) ◽  
pp. 2981-3018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petar H. Lambrev ◽  
Parveen Akhtar

Abstract The light reactions of photosynthesis are hosted and regulated by the chloroplast thylakoid membrane (TM) — the central structural component of the photosynthetic apparatus of plants and algae. The two-dimensional and three-dimensional arrangement of the lipid–protein assemblies, aka macroorganisation, and its dynamic responses to the fluctuating physiological environment, aka flexibility, are the subject of this review. An emphasis is given on the information obtainable by spectroscopic approaches, especially circular dichroism (CD). We briefly summarise the current knowledge of the composition and three-dimensional architecture of the granal TMs in plants and the supramolecular organisation of Photosystem II and light-harvesting complex II therein. We next acquaint the non-specialist reader with the fundamentals of CD spectroscopy, recent advances such as anisotropic CD, and applications for studying the structure and macroorganisation of photosynthetic complexes and membranes. Special attention is given to the structural and functional flexibility of light-harvesting complex II in vitro as revealed by CD and fluorescence spectroscopy. We give an account of the dynamic changes in membrane macroorganisation associated with the light-adaptation of the photosynthetic apparatus and the regulation of the excitation energy flow by state transitions and non-photochemical quenching.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julianne M. Troiano ◽  
Federico Perozeni ◽  
Raymundo Moya ◽  
Luca Zuliani ◽  
Kwangryul Baek ◽  
...  

AbstractUnder high light conditions, oxygenic photosynthetic organisms avoid photodamage by thermally dissipating excess absorbed energy, which is called non-photochemical quenching (NPQ). In green algae, a chlorophyll and carotenoid-binding protein, light-harvesting complex stress-related (LHCSR3), detects excess energy via pH and serves as a quenching site. However, the mechanisms by which LHCSR3 functions have not been determined. Using a combined in vivo and in vitro approach, we identify two parallel yet distinct quenching processes, individually controlled by pH and carotenoid composition, and their likely molecular origin within LHCSR3 from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The pH-controlled quenching is removed within a mutant LHCSR3 that lacks the protonable residues responsible for sensing pH. Constitutive quenching in zeaxanthin-enriched systems demonstrates zeaxanthin-controlled quenching, which may be shared with other light-harvesting complexes. We show that both quenching processes prevent the formation of damaging reactive oxygen species, and thus provide distinct timescales and mechanisms of protection in a changing environment.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierrick Bru ◽  
Collin J. Steen ◽  
Soomin Park ◽  
Cynthia L. Amstutz ◽  
Emily J. Sylak-Glassman ◽  
...  

Excess light can induce photodamage to the photosynthetic machinery, therefore plants have evolved photoprotective mechanisms such as non-photochemical quenching (NPQ). Different NPQ components have been identified and classified based on their relaxation kinetics and molecular players. The NPQ component qE is induced and relaxed rapidly (seconds to minutes), whereas the NPQ component qH is induced and relaxed slowly (hours or longer). Molecular players regulating qH have recently been uncovered, but the photophysical mechanism of qH and its location in the photosynthetic membrane have not been determined. Using time-correlated single-photon counting analysis of the Arabidopsis thaliana suppressor of quenching 1 mutant (soq1), which displays higher qH than the wild type, we observed shorter average lifetime of chlorophyll fluorescence in leaves and thylakoids relative to wild type. Comparison of isolated photosynthetic complexes from plants in which qH was turned ON or OFF revealed a chlorophyll fluorescence decrease specifically in the trimeric light-harvesting complex II (LHCII) fraction when qH was ON. LHCII trimers are composed of Lhcb1, 2 and 3 proteins, so CRISPR-Cas9 edited and T-DNA insertion lhcb1, lhcb2 and lhcb3 mutants were crossed with soq1. In soq1 lhcb1, soq1 lhcb2, and soq1 lhcb3, qH was not abolished, indicating that no single major Lhcb isoform is necessary for qH. Using transient absorption spectroscopy of isolated thylakoids, no spectral signatures for chlorophyll-carotenoid excitation energy quenching or charge transfer quenching were observed, suggesting that qH may occur through chlorophyll-chlorophyll excitonic interaction.


2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 1263-1277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vasco Giovagnetti ◽  
Alexander V. Ruban

Photosynthetic organisms require rapid and reversible down-regulation of light harvesting to avoid photodamage. Response to unpredictable light fluctuations is achieved by inducing energy-dependent quenching, qE, which is the major component of the process known as non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) of chlorophyll fluorescence. qE is controlled by the operation of the xanthophyll cycle and accumulation of specific types of proteins, upon thylakoid lumen acidification. The protein cofactors so far identified to modulate qE in photosynthetic eukaryotes are the photosystem II subunit S (PsbS) and light-harvesting complex stress-related (LHCSR/LHCX) proteins. A transition from LHCSR- to PsbS-dependent qE took place during the evolution of the Viridiplantae (also known as ‘green lineage’ organisms), such as green algae, mosses and vascular plants. Multiple studies showed that LHCSR and PsbS proteins have distinct functions in the mechanism of qE. LHCX(-like) proteins are closely related to LHCSR proteins and found in ‘red lineage’ organisms that contain secondary red plastids, such as diatoms. Although LHCX proteins appear to control qE in diatoms, their role in the mechanism remains poorly understood. Here, we present the current knowledge on the functions and evolution of these crucial proteins, which evolved in photosynthetic eukaryotes to optimise light harvesting.


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