A possible molecular basis for photoprotection in the minor antenna proteins of plants

Kieran F. Fox, Caner Ünlü, Vytautas Balevičius, Baboo Narottamsing Ramdour, Carina Kern, Xiaowei Pan, Mei Li, Herbert van Amerongen, Christopher D.P. Duffy*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

25 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The bioenergetics of light-harvesting by photosynthetic antenna proteins in higher plants is well understood. However, investigation into the regulatory non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) mechanism, which dissipates excess energy in high light, has led to several conflicting models. It is generally accepted that the major photosystem II antenna protein, LHCII, is the site of NPQ, although the minor antenna complexes (CP24/26/29) are also proposed as alternative/additional NPQ sites. LHCII crystals were shown to exhibit the short excitation lifetime and several spectral signatures of the quenched state. Subsequent structure-based models showed that this quenching could be explained by slow energy trapping by the carotenoids, in line with one of the proposed models. Using Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy (FLIM) we show that the crystal structure of CP29 corresponds to a strongly quenched conformation. Using a structure-based theoretical model we show that this quenching may be explained by the same slow, carotenoid-mediated quenching mechanism present in LHCII crystals.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)471-481
Number of pages11
JournalBiochimica et Biophysica Acta - Bioenergetics
Volume1859
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier B.V.

Funding

K. F. F., V.B. Jr., C. K., B. N. R. and C.D.P.D. acknowledge the support from the Leverhulme Trust RPG-2015-337. This research utilized Queen Mary's MidPlus computational facilities (EPSRC grant EP/K000128/1. X. P. and M. L. acknowledge the Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences of CAS (QYZDB-SSWSMC005) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (31170703). C. Ü. and H. van A. acknowledge financial support from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research via the Council for Chemical Sciences. K. F. F., V.B. Jr., C. K., B. N. R. and C.D.P.D. acknowledge the support from the Leverhulme Trust RPG-2015-337 . This research utilized Queen Mary's MidPlus computational facilities ( EPSRC grant EP/K000128/1 . X. P. and M. L. acknowledge the Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences of CAS ( QYZDB-SSWSMC005 ) and National Natural Science Foundation of China ( 31170703 ). C. Ü. and H. van A. acknowledge financial support from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research via the Council for Chemical Sciences .

FundersFunder number
Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research
University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research CouncilEP/K000128/1
Leverhulme TrustRPG-2015-337
National Natural Science Foundation of China31170703
Chinese Academy of SciencesQYZDB-SSWSMC005

    Keywords

    • Carotenoids
    • Light-harvesting
    • Minor antenna
    • Non-photochemical quenching
    • Photoprotection
    • Photosystem II

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'A possible molecular basis for photoprotection in the minor antenna proteins of plants'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this