IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v5y2014i1d10.1038_ncomms5433.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic photoprotection in photosystem II that retains a complete light-harvesting system with slow energy traps

Author

Listed:
  • Erica Belgio

    (School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London)

  • Ekaterina Kapitonova

    (School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London)

  • Jevgenij Chmeliov

    (Faculty of Physics, Vilnius University
    Institute of Physics, Center for Physical Sciences and Technology)

  • Christopher D. P. Duffy

    (School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London)

  • Petra Ungerer

    (School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London)

  • Leonas Valkunas

    (Faculty of Physics, Vilnius University
    Institute of Physics, Center for Physical Sciences and Technology)

  • Alexander V. Ruban

    (School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London)

Abstract

The light-harvesting antenna of higher plant photosystem II has an intrinsic capability for self-defence against intense sunlight. The thermal dissipation of excess energy can be measured as the non-photochemical quenching of chlorophyll fluorescence. It has recently been proposed that the transition between the light-harvesting and self-defensive modes is associated with a reorganization of light-harvesting complexes. Here we show that despite structural changes, the photosystem II cross-section does not decrease. Our study reveals that the efficiency of energy trapping by the non-photochemical quencher(s) is lower than the efficiency of energy capture by the reaction centres. Consequently, the photoprotective mechanism works effectively for closed rather than open centres. This type of defence preserves the exceptional efficiency of electron transport in a broad range of light intensities, simultaneously ensuring high photosynthetic productivity and, under hazardous light conditions, sufficient photoprotection for both the reaction centre and the light-harvesting pigments of the antenna.

Suggested Citation

  • Erica Belgio & Ekaterina Kapitonova & Jevgenij Chmeliov & Christopher D. P. Duffy & Petra Ungerer & Leonas Valkunas & Alexander V. Ruban, 2014. "Economic photoprotection in photosystem II that retains a complete light-harvesting system with slow energy traps," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-8, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms5433
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5433
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms5433
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms5433?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms5433. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.