Charge transfer from the carotenoid can quench chlorophyll excitation in antenna complexes of plants.

ABSTRACT: The photosynthetic apparatus of higher plants can dissipate excess excitation energy during high light exposure, by deactivating excited chlorophylls through a mechanism called nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ). However, the precise molecular details of quenching and the mechanism regulating the quenching level are still not completely understood. Focusing on the major light-harvesting complex LHCII of Photosystem II, we show that a charge transfer state involving Lutein can efficiently quench chlorophyll excitation, and reduce the excitation lifetime of LHCII to the levels measured in the deeply quenched LHCII aggregates. Through a combination of molecular dynamics simulations, multiscale quantum chemical calculations, and kinetic modeling, we demonstrate that the quenching level can be fi

SUBMITTER: Cupellini L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6994720 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature