Bicarbonate utilization and pH polarity. The response of photosynthetic electron transport to carbon limitation in Potamogeton lucens leaves

1998 ◽  
Vol 76 (6) ◽  
pp. 1018-1024
Author(s):  
Lucina C van Ginkel ◽  
Hidde BA Prins

By the process of pH polarity, several submersed angiosperms can use bicarbonate as carbon source for photosynthesis. Under conditions of relatively high light intensity and low CO2 availability, the pH of the apoplast and unstirred layer becomes acid at one side of the leaf and alkaline at the other. In the acid region, bicarbonate is converted into CO2, which diffuses into the leaf where it is fixed. Previous experiments on the light-dependent reduction of extracellular electron acceptors led to the hypothesis of redox regulation. Under conditions of high light and low CO2, excess reducing power in the chloroplast was supposed to be shuttled to the cytoplasm where it can upregulate the plasma membrane proton pump, leading to activation of polarity. Chlorophyll a fluorescence is an indicator for photosynthetic electron transport, the energization of thylakoids, and the reoxidation of chloroplast NADPH. It was used therefore to test redox regulation in vivo in Potamogeton lucens L. leaves. The fluoresence parameter, qP, an indicator for photochemical quenching and NADPH reoxidation, appeared to be rather insensitive to the inorganic carbon concentration and to the presence or absence of polarity. In contrast, qN, an indicator for non-photochemical quenching related to thylakoid energization, photoinhibition, and state transitions, increased under conditions of low CO2 - high light and polarity. Taken together the data show polarity to be an effective mechanism to make bicarbonate accessible as carbon source and seem to agree with the idea of redox regulation of pH polarity.Key words: bicarbonate utilization, chlorophyll a fluoresence, pH polarity, redox regulation, Potamogeton lucens, submerged aquatic macrophyte.

Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 1216
Author(s):  
Marine Messant ◽  
Anja Krieger-Liszkay ◽  
Ginga Shimakawa

Photosynthesis has to work efficiently in contrasting environments such as in shade and full sun. Rapid changes in light intensity and over-reduction of the photosynthetic electron transport chain cause production of reactive oxygen species, which can potentially damage the photosynthetic apparatus. Thus, to avoid such damage, photosynthetic electron transport is regulated on many levels, including light absorption in antenna, electron transfer reactions in the reaction centers, and consumption of ATP and NADPH in different metabolic pathways. Many regulatory mechanisms involve the movement of protein-pigment complexes within the thylakoid membrane. Furthermore, a certain number of chloroplast proteins exist in different oligomerization states, which temporally associate to the thylakoid membrane and modulate their activity. This review starts by giving a short overview of the lipid composition of the chloroplast membranes, followed by describing supercomplex formation in cyclic electron flow. Protein movements involved in the various mechanisms of non-photochemical quenching, including thermal dissipation, state transitions and the photosystem II damage–repair cycle are detailed. We highlight the importance of changes in the oligomerization state of VIPP and of the plastid terminal oxidase PTOX and discuss the factors that may be responsible for these changes. Photosynthesis-related protein movements and organization states of certain proteins all play a role in acclimation of the photosynthetic organism to the environment.


Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 276
Author(s):  
Wanying Chen ◽  
Bo Jia ◽  
Junyu Chen ◽  
Yujiao Feng ◽  
Yue Li ◽  
...  

The mutual shading among individual field-grown maize plants resulting from high planting density inevitably reduces leaf photosynthesis, while regulating the photosynthetic transport chain has a strong impact on photosynthesis. However, the effect of high planting density on the photosynthetic electron transport chain in maize currently remains unclear. In this study, we simultaneously measured prompt chlorophyll a fluorescence (PF), modulated 820 nm reflection (MR) and delayed chlorophyll a fluorescence (DF) in order to investigate the effect of high planting density on the photosynthetic electron transport chain in two maize hybrids widely grown in China. PF transients demonstrated a gradual reduction in their signal amplitude with increasing planting density. In addition, high planting density induced positive J-step and G-bands of the PF transients, reduced the values of PF parameters PIABS, RC/CSO, TRO/ABS, ETO/TRO and REO/ETO, and enhanced ABS/RC and N. MR kinetics showed an increase of their lowest point with increasing high planting density, and thus the values of MR parameters VPSI and VPSII-PSI were reduced. The shapes of DF induction and decay curves were changed by high planting density. In addition, high planting density reduced the values of DF parameters I1, I2, L1 and L2, and enhanced I2/I1. These results suggested that high planting density caused harm on multiple components of maize photosynthetic electron transport chain, including an inactivation of PSII RCs, a blocked electron transfer between QA and QB, a reduction in PSI oxidation and re-reduction activities, and an impaired PSI acceptor side. Moreover, a comparison between PSII and PSI activities demonstrated the greater effect of plant density on the former.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gábor Bernát ◽  
Tomáš Zavřel ◽  
Eva Kotabová ◽  
László Kovács ◽  
Gábor Steinbach ◽  
...  

Photomorphogenesis is a process by which photosynthetic organisms perceive external light parameters, including light quality (color), and adjust cellular metabolism, growth rates and other parameters, in order to survive in a changing light environment. In this study we comprehensively explored the light color acclimation of Cyanobium gracile, a common cyanobacterium in turbid freshwater shallow lakes, using nine different monochromatic growth lights covering the whole visible spectrum from 435 to 687 nm. According to incident light wavelength, C. gracile cells performed great plasticity in terms of pigment composition, antenna size, and photosystem stoichiometry, to optimize their photosynthetic performance and to redox poise their intersystem electron transport chain. In spite of such compensatory strategies, C. gracile, like other cyanobacteria, uses blue and near far-red light less efficiently than orange or red light, which involves moderate growth rates, reduced cell volumes and lower electron transport rates. Unfavorable light conditions, where neither chlorophyll nor phycobilisomes absorb light sufficiently, are compensated by an enhanced antenna size. Increasing the wavelength of the growth light is accompanied by increasing photosystem II to photosystem I ratios, which involve better light utilization in the red spectral region. This is surprisingly accompanied by a partial excitonic antenna decoupling, which was the highest in the cells grown under 687 nm light. So far, a similar phenomenon is known to be induced only by strong light; here we demonstrate that under certain physiological conditions such decoupling is also possible to be induced by weak light. This suggests that suboptimal photosynthetic performance of the near far-red light grown C. gracile cells is due to a solid redox- and/or signal-imbalance, which leads to the activation of this short-term light acclimation process. Using a variety of photo-biophysical methods, we also demonstrate that under blue wavelengths, excessive light is quenched through orange carotenoid protein mediated non-photochemical quenching, whereas under orange/red wavelengths state transitions are involved in photoprotection.


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.


1997 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 495 ◽  
Author(s):  
James R. Andrews ◽  
Neil R. Baker

Wheat (C3) and maize (C4) leaves were exposed to light treatments that were limiting for CO2 assimilation and which excite preferentially photosystem I (PSI) or photosystem II (PSII) and induce State 1 or State 2, respectively. In order to examine the relationships between linear electron transport and CO2 in leaves during State transitions, simultaneous measurements of CO2 assimilation, chlorophyll fluorescence and absorbance at 820 nm were used to estimate the quantum efficiencies of CO2 assimilation and PSII and PSI photochemistry. In wheat leaves with photorespiratory activity, no significant change in quantum efficiency of CO2assimilation was observed during State transitions. This was not the case when photorespiration was inhibited with either 2% O2 or 1000 ppm CO2 and transition from State 2 to State 1 was accompanied by a large decrease (c. 20%) in the quantum efficiency of CO2 assimilation which was not associated with a decrease in the quantum efficiency of electron transport through PSII. Photorespiration appears to buffer the quantum efficiency of CO2 assimilation from changes associated with decreases in the rate of CO2 fixation resulting from imbalances in PPFD absorption by PSI and PSII. When maize leaves were subjected to similar State transitions, no significant change in the quantum efficiency of CO2 assimilation was observed on transition from State 2 to State 1, but on switching back to State 2 a very large decrease (c. 40%) was observed. This decrease could be prevented if leaves were maintained in either 2% O2 or 593 ppm CO2. The possible occurrence of photorespiration in maize leaves on transition from State 1 to State 2, which could result from an inhibition of the CO2 concentrating mechanism, cannot account for the decrease in the quantum efficiency of CO2 assimilation since the relationship between PSII electron transport and CO2 assimilation remained similar throughout the State transitions. Also changes in the phosphorylation status of the light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b protein associated with PSII cannot be implicated in this phenomenon.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. e0256529
Author(s):  
Xiaoshan Wang ◽  
Qiyue Dingxuan ◽  
Mengmeng Shi

Calcium (Ca2+) is an essential nutrient element for plants as it stabilizes the membrane system structure and controls enzyme activity. To investigate the effects of Ca2+ on plant growth and leaf photosynthetic electron transport in oat (Avena sativa) under NaCl stress, oat seeds and plants were cultivated in nutrient solutions with single NaCl treatment and NaCl treatment with CaCl2 amendment. By measuring the seed germination rate, plant growth, Na+ and Cl- accumulation in leaves, ion leakage in seedlings and leaves, prompt chlorophyll a fluorescence (PF) transient (OJIP), delayed chlorophyll a fluorescence (DF), and modulated 820 nm reflection (MR) values of the leaves at different growth phases, we observed that Ca2+ alleviated the inhibition of germination and plant growth and decreased Na+ and Cl- accumulation and ion leakage in the leaves under NaCl stress. NaCl stress changed the curves of the OJIP transient, induced PF intensity at P-step (FP) decrease and PF intensity at J-step (FJ) increase, resulted in obvious K and L bands, and altered the performance index of absorption (PIABS), the absorption of antenna chlorophyll (ABS/RC), electron movement efficiency (ETo/TRo), and potential maximum photosynthetic capacity (FV/FM) values. With the time extension of NaCl stress, I1 and I2 in the DF curve showed a decreasing trend, the lowest values of MR/MRO curve increased, and the highest points of the MR/MRO curve decreased. Compared with NaCl treatment, the extent of change induced by NaCl in the values of OJIP, DF and MR was reduced in the NaCl treatment with CaCl2 amendment. These results revealed that Ca2+ might improve the photosynthetic efficiency and the growth of salt-stressed plants by maintaining the integrity of oxygen-evolving complexes and electron transporters on the side of the PSI receptor and enhancing the relationship between the functional units of the photosynthetic electron transport chain. The findings from this study could be used for improving crop productivity in saline alkali lands.


2019 ◽  
Vol 126 (4) ◽  
pp. 511-537 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandrina Stirbet ◽  
Dušan Lazár ◽  
Ya Guo ◽  
Govindjee Govindjee

Abstract Background With limited agricultural land and increasing human population, it is essential to enhance overall photosynthesis and thus productivity. Oxygenic photosynthesis begins with light absorption, followed by excitation energy transfer to the reaction centres, primary photochemistry, electron and proton transport, NADPH and ATP synthesis, and then CO2 fixation (Calvin–Benson cycle, as well as Hatch–Slack cycle). Here we cover some of the discoveries related to this process, such as the existence of two light reactions and two photosystems connected by an electron transport ‘chain’ (the Z-scheme), chemiosmotic hypothesis for ATP synthesis, water oxidation clock for oxygen evolution, steps for carbon fixation, and finally the diverse mechanisms of regulatory processes, such as ‘state transitions’ and ‘non-photochemical quenching’ of the excited state of chlorophyll a. Scope In this review, we emphasize that mathematical modelling is a highly valuable tool in understanding and making predictions regarding photosynthesis. Different mathematical models have been used to examine current theories on diverse photosynthetic processes; these have been validated through simulation(s) of available experimental data, such as chlorophyll a fluorescence induction, measured with fluorometers using continuous (or modulated) exciting light, and absorbance changes at 820 nm (ΔA820) related to redox changes in P700, the reaction centre of photosystem I. Conclusions We highlight here the important role of modelling in deciphering and untangling complex photosynthesis processes taking place simultaneously, as well as in predicting possible ways to obtain higher biomass and productivity in plants, algae and cyanobacteria.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document