Direct energy transfer from photosystem II to photosystem I confers winter sustainability in Scots Pine.

ABSTRACT: Evergreen conifers in boreal forests can survive extremely cold (freezing) temperatures during long dark winter and fully recover during summer. A phenomenon called "sustained quenching" putatively provides photoprotection and enables their survival, but its precise molecular and physiological mechanisms are not understood. To unveil them, here we have analyzed seasonal adjustment of the photosynthetic machinery of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) trees by monitoring multi-year changes in weather, chlorophyll fluorescence, chloroplast ultrastructure, and changes in pigment-protein composition. Analysis of Photosystem II and Photosystem I performance parameters indicate that highly dynamic structural and functional seasonal rearrangements of the photosynthetic apparatus occur. Although several

SUBMITTER: Bag P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7738668 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature