scholarly journals Non-photochemical quenching of chlorophyll fluorescence and xanthophyll cycle responses after excess PAR and UVR in Chaetoceros brevis, Phaeocystis antarctica and coastal Antarctic phytoplankton

2011 ◽  
Vol 426 ◽  
pp. 119-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
WH van de Poll ◽  
M Lagunas ◽  
T de Vries ◽  
RJW Visser ◽  
AGJ Buma
1995 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 231 ◽  
Author(s):  
N Mohanty ◽  
HY Yamamoto

Dibucaine reportedly inhibits the light-induced transthylakoid proton gradient of chloroplasts without inhibiting energy-dependent non-photochemical chlorophyll fluorescence quenching (Laasch, H. and Weis, E. (1989). Photosynthesis Research 22, 137-146). We show that dibucaine can inhibit fluorescence quenching, depending on the de-epoxidation state of the xanthophyll cycle. Whereas dibucaine (20-40 μM) had little effect on fluorescence quenching in pre-illuminated-type thylakoids (loaded with zeaxanthin and antheraxanthin), it strongly inhibited quenching in dark-adapted-type thylakoids (no preinduction of de-epoxidation). Dibucaine inhibited lumen acidification similarly in both types of thylakoids and also the induction of violaxanthin de-epoxidation in dark-adapted thylakoids. Thus dark-adapted and pre-illuminated thylakoids differed in de-epoxidation states and their suspectibility to dibucaine inhibition of fluorescence quenching corresponded to this difference. The mechanism of inhibition of de-epoxidation by dibucaine is unclear. It could be due to the inhibition of lumen acidification but an inhibition of the violaxanthin available for de-epoxidation is not excluded. High dibucaine concentrations inhibited de-epoxidase activity directly. Dibucaine inhibition of fluorescence quenching, however, is not limited to the inhibition of de-epoxidation. Small but clear effects on fluorescence quenching were present in thylakoids even with de-epoxidation preinduced. Moreover, thylakoids with preinduced de-epoxidation were more resistant to dibucaine inhibition of fluorescene quenching when poised by salt treatments for proton partitioning into membrane-sequestered domains than when poised for proton partitioning into delocalised domains. We conclude that non-photochemical quenching of chlorophyll fluorescence depends on both de-epoxidised xanthophylls and sequestered proton domains in the thylakoid membranes


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.


2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Govindjee ◽  
Paul Spilotro

A major photoprotective mechanism that plants employ against excess light involves interplay between the xanthophyll cycle and the accumulation of protons. Using mutants in the xanthophyll cycle, the roles of violaxanthin, antheraxanthin and zeaxanthin have already been well established. In this paper, we present data on intact leaves of a mutant [coupling factor quick recovery mutant (cfq); atpC1:E244K] of Arabidopsis thaliana that we expected, based on 515-nm absorbance changes (Gabrys et al. 1994, Plant Physiology 104, 769–776), to have differences in light-induced ΔpH. The significance of this paper is: (i) it is the first study of the photoprotective energy dissipation involving a mutant of the pH gradient; it establishes that protons play an important role in the pattern of non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) of chlorophyll (Chl) a fluorescence; and (ii) differences between the cfq and the wild type (wt) are observed only under subsaturating light intensities, and are strongest in the initial few minutes of the induction period. Our results on light-intensity dependent Chl* a fluorescence transients (the Kautsky effect), and on NPQ of Chl a fluorescence, at 50–250 μmol photons m–2 s–1 demonstrate: (i) the ‘P-to-S’ (or ‘T’) decay, known to be related to [H+] (Briantais et al. 1979, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 548, 128–138), is slowed in the mutant; and (ii) the pattern of NPQ kinetics is different in the initial 100 s — in the wt leaves, there is a marked rise and decline, and in the cfq mutant, there is a slowed rise. These differences are absent at 750 μmol photons m–2 s–1. Pre-illumination and nigericin (an uncoupler that dissipates the proton gradient) treatment of the cfq mutant, which has lower ΔpH relative to wild type, confirm the conclusion that protons play an important role in the quenching of Chl a fluorescence.


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