Physcomitrella patens mutants affected on heat dissipation clarify the evolution of photoprotection mechanisms upon land colonization.

ABSTRACT: Light is the source of energy for photosynthetic organisms; when in excess, however, it also drives the formation of reactive oxygen species and, consequently, photoinhibition. Plants and algae have evolved mechanisms to regulate light harvesting efficiency in response to variable light intensity so as to avoid oxidative damage. Nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ) consists of the rapid dissipation of excess excitation energy as heat. Although widespread among oxygenic photosynthetic organisms, NPQ shows important differences in its machinery. In land plants, such as Arabidopsis thaliana, NPQ depends on the presence of PSBS, whereas in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii it requires a different protein called LHCSR. In this work, we show that both proteins are present in the moss Physcomi

SUBMITTER: Alboresi A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2890724 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature