Changes in thylakoid membrane thickness associated with the reorganization of photosystem II light harvesting complexes during photoprotective energy dissipation

Using freeze-fracture electron microscopy we have recently shown that non-photochemical quenching (NPQ), a mechanism of photo-protective energy dissipation in higher plant chloroplasts, involves a reorganization of the pigment-protein complexes within the stacked grana thylakoids.(1) Photosystem II light harvesting complexes (LHCII) are reorganized in response to the amplitude of the light driven transmembrane proton gradient (Delta pH) leading to their dissociation from photosystem II reaction centers and their aggregation within the membrane.(1) This reorganization of the PSII-LHCII macrostructure was found to be enhanced by the formation of zeaxanthin and was associated with changes in the mobility of the pigment-protein complexes therein. (1) We suspected that the structural changes we observed were linked to the Delta pH-induced changes in thylakoid membrane thickness that were first observed by Murikami and Packer.(2,3) Here using thin-section electron microscopy we show that the changes in thylakoid membrane thickness do not correlate with Delta pH per se but rather the amplitude of NPQ and is thus affected by the de-epoxidation of the LHCII bound xanthophyll violaxanthin to zeaxanthin. We thus suggest that the change in thylakoid membrane thickness occurring during NPQ reflects the conformational change within LHCII proteins brought about by their protonation and aggregation within the membrane.