4.6 Article

Non-Photochemical Quenching in Cryptophyte Alga Rhodomonas salina Is Located in Chlorophyll a/c Antennae

Journal

PLOS ONE
Volume 7, Issue 1, Pages -

Publisher

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0029700

Keywords

-

Funding

  1. Czech Science Foundation [206/09/094]
  2. Institutional Research Concept from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic [AV0Z50200510, MSM6007665808]
  3. Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic [CZ.1.05/2.1.00/03.0110]

Ask authors/readers for more resources

Photosynthesis uses light as a source of energy but its excess can result in production of harmful oxygen radicals. To avoid any resulting damage, phototrophic organisms can employ a process known as non-photochemical quenching (NPQ), where excess light energy is safely dissipated as heat. The mechanism(s) of NPQ vary among different phototrophs. Here, we describe a new type of NPQ in the organism Rhodomonas salina, an alga belonging to the cryptophytes, part of the chromalveolate supergroup. Cryptophytes are exceptional among photosynthetic chromalveolates as they use both chlorophyll a/c proteins and phycobiliproteins for light harvesting. All our data demonstrates that NPQ in cryptophytes differs significantly from other chromalveolates - e.g. diatoms and it is also unique in comparison to NPQ in green algae and in higher plants: (1) there is no light induced xanthophyll cycle; (2) NPQ resembles the fast and flexible energetic quenching (qE) of higher plants, including its fast recovery; (3) a direct antennae protonation is involved in NPQ, similar to that found in higher plants. Further, fluorescence spectroscopy and biochemical characterization of isolated photosynthetic complexes suggest that NPQ in R. salina occurs in the chlorophyll a/c antennae but not in phycobiliproteins. All these results demonstrate that NPQ in cryptophytes represents a novel class of effective and flexible non-photochemical quenching.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.6
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available