Biochemical constrains limit the potential of the photochemical reflectance index as a predictor of effective quantum efficiency of photosynthesis during the winter spring transition in Jack pine seedlings

2009 ◽  
Vol 36 (11) ◽  
pp. 1016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Busch ◽  
Norman P. A. Hüner ◽  
Ingo Ensminger

Leaf reflectance spectral measurements are an emerging non-invasive technique that can be used to derive the photochemical reflectance index (PRI) to assess the physiological state of plants from leaf to ecosystem level. Changes in PRI are associated with changes in the xanthophyll cycle activity and provide an estimate of changes in the effective photochemical quantum efficiency (ΦII) during the growing season. However, we hypothesised that the correlation between PRI and ΦII might be poor when the xanthophyll cycle is primed for sustained thermal dissipation of the light energy absorbed. To test our hypothesis, we studied the recovery of winter acclimated Jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) seedlings that were exposed to different simulated spring recovery treatments in controlled environments. Different growth temperatures and light intensities were used to dissect the effect of these two factors on chlorophyll fluorescence, pigment composition and leaf reflectance. ΦII showed a clear response to temperature whereas PRI was mostly affected by light intensity. In contrast, the de-epoxidation state of the xanthophyll cycle pigments was both temperature and light dependent. Our data suggest that zeaxanthin-independent non-photochemical quenching is employed to various degrees in the different treatments. As a result, within the limits of our experimental setup, PRI could not explain the variation in ΦII. This indicates that an improved understanding of the different energy quenching mechanisms is critical to accurately interpret the PRI signal under environmental conditions where the predominant mode of excess energy dissipation does not involve a dynamic operation of the xanthophyll cycle, but a sustained mechanism of energy dissipation.

2001 ◽  
Vol 28 (10) ◽  
pp. 1023 ◽  
Author(s):  
Congming Lu ◽  
Qingtao Lu ◽  
Jianhua Zhang ◽  
Qide Zhang ◽  
Tingyun Kuang

Photosynthesis, the xanthophyll cycle, light energy dissipation and down-regulation of photosystem II (PSII) in senescent leaves of wheat plants grown in the field were investigated. With the progress of senescence, maximal efficiency of PSII photochemistry decreased only slightly early in the morning but substantially at midday. Actual PSII efficiency, photochemical quenching, efficiency of excitation capture by open PSII centres, and the I–P phase of fluorescence induction curves decreased significantly and such decreases were much more evident at midday than in the morning. At the same time, non-photochemical quenching, thermal dissipation and de-epoxidation status of the xanthophyll cycle increased, with much greater increases at midday than in the morning. These results suggest that the xanthophyll cycle played a role in photoprotection of PSII in senescent leaves by dissipating excess excitation energy. Taking into account the substantial decrease in photosynthetic capacity in senescent leaves, our data seem to support the view that the decrease in actual PSII efficiency in senescent leaves may represent a mechanism to down-regulate photosynthetic electron transport to match the decreased CO2 assimilation capacity and avoid photodamage of PSII from excess excitation energy.


HortScience ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 1097D-1098
Author(s):  
Guohai Xia ◽  
Lailiang Cheng

Four-year-old `Gala'/M.26 trees were grown under low (2.5 mm), medium (12.5 mm), or high (25 mm) N supply with balanced nutrients in sand culture and the cropload was adjusted to 5 fruit/cm2 trunk cross-sectional area at 10 mm king fruit. At about 100 days after bloom, exposed fruit on the south side of the canopy were chosen for monitoring chlorophyll fluorescence and fruit peel samples were taken for measuring xanthophyll cycle pigments, antioxidant enzymes, and metabolites. At noon, the efficiency of excitation transfer (Fv'/Fm') of the sun-exposed peel was higher in the low N treatment than in the medium or high N treatments. Photochemical quenching coefficient did not differ between fruits in different N treatments. The Photosystem II operating efficiency was higher in the peel of low N fruit compared with medium N or high N fruit. However, maximum quantum efficiency (Fv/Fm) of fruit peel after overnight dark adaptation was similar across the N treatments. The xanthophyll cycle pool size expressed on peel area basis was larger in the high N fruit than in the low N fruit. This corresponds well with the thermal dissipation capacity, as indicated by efficiency of excitation transfer. Over 95% of the xanthophyll cycle pool in the sun-exposed side was present in the form of zeaxanthin and antheraxanthin at noon regardless of N treatments. Activities of superoxide dismutase and all the antioxidant enzymes and metabolites in the ascorbate-glutathione cycle were higher in the high N fruit than in low N fruit. The results indicate that apple fruit with a good N status have a higher photoprotective capacity in terms of xanthophyll cycle-dependent thermal dissipation and detoxification of reactive oxygen species compared with low N fruit.


1996 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 649 ◽  
Author(s):  
B Demmig-Adams ◽  
WW Iii Adams

The response of carotenoid and chlorophyll composition to the actual degree of excess light experienced in the natural environment was examined in differently angled leaves of the sclerophyllous shrub Euonymus kiautschovicus. Increasing light stress caused a greater conversion of the xanthophyll cycle to zeaxanthin and antheraxanthin as well as thermal dissipation of a greater fraction of the absorbed light. Increasing light stress was also associated with increasing chlorophyll alb ratios and increases in the pool size of the xanthophyll cycle. The response of all other carotenoids to light stress was less pronounced than that of the xanthophyll cycle pool. While the ratio of β-carotene or lutein to chlorophyll increased with increasing light stress, the ratio of neoxanthin to chlorophyll remained constant. Only the (taxonomically restricted) carotenoids lactucaxanthin and �-carotene decreased relative to chlorophyll with increasing light stress. These findings are consistent with an increased emphasis on energy dissipation over light collection with increasing light stress, afforded presumably by a decreased ratio of major, peripheral (bulk chlorophyll-binding) to minor, proximal (xanthophyll cycle-rich) light-harvesting complexes of photosystem II. These responses to light stress within a single species could not be extrapolated to comparisons among different groups of species.


HortScience ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 541a-541
Author(s):  
Lailiang Cheng ◽  
Leslie H. Fuchigami ◽  
Patrick J. Breen

Bench-grafted Fuji/M26 apple trees were fertigated with different concentrations of nitrogen by using a modified Hoagland solution for 6 weeks, resulting in a range of leaf N from 1.0 to 4.3 g·m–2. Over this range, leaf absorptance increased curvilinearly from 75% to 92.5%. Under high light conditions (1500 (mol·m–2·s–1), the amount of absorbed light in excess of that required to saturate CO2 assimilation decreased with increasing leaf N. Chlorophyll fluorescence measurements revealed that the maximum photosystem II (PSII) efficiency of dark-adapted leaves was relatively constant over the leaf N range except for a slight drop at the lower end. As leaf N increased, non-photochemical quenching under high light declined and there was a corresponding increase in the efficiency with which the absorbed photons were delivered to open PSII centers. Photochemical quenching coefficient decreased significantly at the lower end of the leaf N range. Actual PSII efficiency increased curvilinearly with increasing leaf N, and was highly correlated with light-saturated CO2 assimilation. The fraction of absorbed light potentially used for free radical formation was estimated to be about 10% regardless of the leaf N status. It was concluded that increased thermal dissipation protected leaves from photo-oxidation as leaf N declined.


2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (10) ◽  
pp. 1141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Govindjee ◽  
Manfredo J. Seufferheld

This paper deals first with the early, although incomplete, history of photoinhibition, of 'non-QA-related chlorophyll (Chl) a fluorescence changes', and the xanthophyll cycle that preceded the discovery of the correlation between non-photochemical quenching of Chl a fluorescence (NPQ) and conversion of violaxanthin to zeaxanthin. It includes the crucial observation that the fluorescence intensity quenching, when plants are exposed to excess light, is indeed due to a change in the quantum yield of fluorescence. The history ends with a novel turn in the direction of research — isolation and characterization of NPQ xanthophyll-cycle mutants of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Dangeard and Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh., blocked in conversion of violaxanthin to zeaxanthin, and zeaxanthin to violaxanthin, respectively. In the second part of the paper, we extend the characterization of two of these mutants (npq1, which accumulates violaxanthin, and npq2, which accumulates zeaxanthin) through parallel measurements on growth, and several assays of PSII function: oxygen evolution, Chl a fluorescence transient (the Kautsky effect), the two-electron gate function of PSII, the back reactions around PSII, and measurements of NPQ by pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM 2000) fluorimeter. We show that, in the npq2 mutant, Chl a fluorescence is quenched both in the absence and presence of 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea (DCMU). However, no differences are observed in functioning of the electron-acceptor side of PSII — both the two-electron gate and the back reactions are unchanged. In addition, the role of protons in fluorescence quenching during the 'P-to-S' fluorescence transient was confirmed by the effect of nigericin in decreasing this quenching effect. Also, the absence of zeaxanthin in the npq1 mutant leads to reduced oxygen evolution at high light intensity, suggesting another protective role of this carotenoid. The available data not only support the current model of NPQ that includes roles for both pH and the xanthophylls, but also are consistent with additional protective roles of zeaxanthin. However, this paper emphasizes that we still lack sufficient understanding of the different parts of NPQ, and that the precise mechanisms of photoprotection in the alga Chlamydomonas may not be the same as those in higher plants.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jochen M. Buck ◽  
Jonathan Sherman ◽  
Carolina Río Bártulos ◽  
Manuel Serif ◽  
Marc Halder ◽  
...  

Abstract Diatoms possess an impressive capacity for rapidly inducible thermal dissipation of excess absorbed energy (qE), provided by the xanthophyll diatoxanthin and Lhcx proteins. By knocking out the Lhcx1 and Lhcx2 genes individually in Phaeodactylum tricornutum strain 4 and complementing the knockout lines with different Lhcx proteins, multiple mutants with varying qE capacities are obtained, ranging from zero to high values. We demonstrate that qE is entirely dependent on the concerted action of diatoxanthin and Lhcx proteins, with Lhcx1, Lhcx2 and Lhcx3 having similar functions. Moreover, we establish a clear link between Lhcx1/2/3 mediated inducible thermal energy dissipation and a reduction in the functional absorption cross-section of photosystem II. This regulation of the functional absorption cross-section can be tuned by altered Lhcx protein expression in response to environmental conditions. Our results provide a holistic understanding of the rapidly inducible thermal energy dissipation process and its mechanistic implications in diatoms.


2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandra Bellan ◽  
Francesca Bucci ◽  
Giorgio Perin ◽  
Alessandro Alboresi ◽  
Tomas Morosinotto

Abstract In nature, photosynthetic organisms are exposed to highly dynamic environmental conditions where the excitation energy and electron flow in the photosynthetic apparatus need to be continuously modulated. Fluctuations in incident light are particularly challenging because they drive oversaturation of photosynthesis with consequent oxidative stress and photoinhibition. Plants and algae have evolved several mechanisms to modulate their photosynthetic machinery to cope with light dynamics, such as thermal dissipation of excited chlorophyll states (non-photochemical quenching, NPQ) and regulation of electron transport. The regulatory mechanisms involved in the response to light dynamics have adapted during evolution, and exploring biodiversity is a valuable strategy for expanding our understanding of their biological roles. In this work, we investigated the response to fluctuating light in Nannochloropsis gaditana, a eukaryotic microalga of the phylum Heterokonta originating from a secondary endosymbiotic event. Nannochloropsis gaditana is negatively affected by light fluctuations, leading to large reductions in growth and photosynthetic electron transport. Exposure to light fluctuations specifically damages photosystem I, likely because of the ineffective regulation of electron transport in this species. The role of NPQ, also assessed using a mutant strain specifically depleted of this response, was instead found to be minor, especially in responding to the fastest light fluctuations.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document