Photoprotective energy quenching in the red alga Porphyridium purpureum occurs at the core antenna of the photosystem II but not at its reaction center.

ABSTRACT: Photosynthetic organisms have evolved light-harvesting antennae over time. In cyanobacteria, external phycobilisomes (PBSs) are the dominant antennae, whereas in green algae and higher plants, PBSs have been replaced by proteins of the Lhc family that are integrated in the membrane. Red algae represent an evolutionary intermediate between these two systems, as they employ both PBSs and membrane LHCR proteins as light-harvesting units. Understanding how red algae cope with light is not only interesting for biotechnological applications, but is also of evolutionary interest. For example, energy-dependent quenching (qE) is an essential photoprotective mechanism widely used by species from cyanobacteria to higher plants to avoid light damage; however, the quenching mechanism in red algae remai

SUBMITTER: Fang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8978274 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature