Anthocyanins and nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ) are two important tools that provide photoprotection in plant leaves. In order to understand how plants use these tools for acclimation to changing seasonal conditions, we investigated pigments, antioxidative capacity, and photosynthesis in leaves of an evergreen tree (Acmena acuminatissima) in two contrasting seasons. Young leaves of A. acuminatissima appeared in distinct colors, being light green in summer and red in winter due to the presence of anthocyanins. In the winter young leaves, anthocyanins contributed less than 2% to the antioxidant pool. In the summer, young leaves had higher NPQ than that of mature leaves, but in the winter, they did not derive any NPQ-related advantage over mature leaves. These results suggest that the accumulation of anthocyanins in young leaves in the winter may compensate for the insufficient photoprotection afforded by NPQ and that anthocyanins function as a light attenuator to protect the photochemical apparatus against excess light., H. Zhu, T.-J. Zhang, J. Zheng, X.-D. Huang, Z.-C. Yu, C.-L. Peng, W. S. Chow., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
The light-induced nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ) can safely dissipate excess of absorbed light to heat. Here we describe an application of spectrally resolved fluorescence induction (SRFI) method for studying spectral variability of NPQ. The approach allows detection of spectrally-resolved nonphotochemical quenching (NPQλ) representing NPQ dependency on fluorescence emission wavelength in the whole spectral range of fluorescence emission. The experimental approach is briefly described and NPQλ is studied for the cryptophyte alga Rhodomonas salina and for green alga Chlorella sp. We confirm presence of NPQλ only in membrane-bound antennae (chlorophyll a/c antennae) and not in phycobiliproteins in lumen in cryptophyte and show that NPQλ is inhibited in the whole spectral range by NPQ inhibitors in Chlorella sp. We discuss variability in the quenching in the particular spectral ranges and applicability of the NPQλ parameter to study quenching locus in vivo., R. Kaňa., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
Efficient degradation of damaged D1 during the repair of PSII is carried out by a set of dedicated FtsH proteases in the thylakoid membrane. Here we investigated whether the evolution of FtsH could hold clues to the origin of oxygenic photosynthesis. A phylogenetic analysis of over 6000 FtsH protease sequences revealed that there are three major groups of FtsH proteases originating from gene duplication events in the last common ancestor of bacteria, and that the FtsH proteases involved in PSII repair form a distinct clade branching out before the divergence of FtsH proteases found in all groups of anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria. Furthermore, we showed that the phylogenetic tree of FtsH proteases in phototrophic bacteria is similar to that for Type I and Type II reaction centre proteins. We conclude that the phylogeny of FtsH proteases is consistent with an early origin of photosynthetic water oxidation chemistry., S. Shao, T. Cardona, P. J. Nixon., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
IsiA is a membrane-bound Chl a-antenna protein synthesized in cyanobacteria under iron deficiency. Since iron deficiency is a common nutrient stress in significant fractions of cyanobacterial habitats, IsiA is likely to be essential for some cyanobacteria. However, the role it plays in cyanobacteria is not fully understood. In this review paper, we summarize the research efforts directed towards characterizing IsiA over the past three decades and attempt to bring all the pieces of the puzzle together to get a more comprehensive understanding of the function of this protein. Moreover, we analyzed the genomes of over 390 cyanobacterial strains available in the JGI/IMG database to assess the distribution of IsiA across the cyanobacterial kingdom. Our study revealed that only 125 such strains have an IsiA homolog, suggesting that the presence of this protein is a niche specific requirement, and cyanobacterial strains that lack IsiA might have developed other mechanisms to survive iron deficiency., H.-Y. S. Chen, A. Bandyopadhyay, H. B. Pakrasi., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
The PsbM (3.9 kDa) and PsbY (4.2 kDa) proteins are membrane-spanning, single-helix, subunits associated with the chlorophyll-binding CP47 pre-complex of photosystem II (PSII). Removal of PsbM resulted in accumulation of PSII pre-assembly complexes and impaired electron transfer between the primary (QA) and secondary (QB) plastoquinone electron acceptors of PSII indicating that the QB-binding site and bicarbonate binding to the non-heme iron were altered in this strain. Removal of PsbY alone had only a minor impact on PSII activity but deleting PsbY in the PsbM background led to additional modification of the acceptor side resulting in PsbM:PsbY cells being susceptible to photodamage and this required protein synthesis for recovery. Addition of bicarbonate was able to compensate for the light-induced damage in PsbM:PsbY cells potentially re-occupying the modified bicarbonate-binding site in the PsbM:PsbY strain and complementation of PsbM:PsbY cells with the psbY gene restored the PsbM phenotype., S. Biswas, J. J. Eaton-Rye., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
We characterized the photosynthetic growth of wild-type (WT) and QC-site mutant cells of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 grown in a photobioreactor under medium-intensity [~70 μmol(photon) m-2 s-1] and high-intensity [~200 μmol(photon) m-2 s-1] light conditions. Photosynthetic growth rate (the exponential phase) increased about 1.1-1.2 fold for the A16FJ, S28Aβ, and V32Fβ mutant compared with WT cells under medium-intensity light and about 1.2-1.3 fold under high-intensity light. Biomass production increased about 17-20% for A16FJ and S28Aβ mutant cells as compared with WT cells under medium-intensity light and about 14-17% for A16FJ and V32Fβ mutant cells under high-intensity light. The greater photosynthetic growth rate and biomass production of these QC-site mutant cells could be attributed to the increased photosynthesis efficiency and decreased dissipation of wasteful energy from phycobilisomes in mutants vs. WT cells. Our results support that manipulation of photoprotection may improve photosynthesis and biomass production of photosynthetic organisms., J.-Y. Huang, N.-T. Hung, K.-M. Lin, Y.-F. Chiu, H.-A. Chu., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy