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The redox state of the plastoquinone pool controls the level of the light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b binding protein complex II (LHC II) during photoacclimation

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Abstract

A cytochrome b 6 f deficient mutant of Lemna perpusilla maintains a constant and lower level of the light-harvesting chl a/b-binding protein complex II (LHC II) as compared to the wild type plants at low-light intensities. Inhibition of the plastoquinone pool reduction increases the LHC II content of the mutant at both low- and high-light intensities but only at high-light intensity in the wild type plants. Proteolytic activity against LHC II appears during high-light photoacclimation of wild type plants. However, the acclimative protease is present in the mutant at both light intensities. These and additional results suggest that the plastoquinone redox state serves as the major signal-transducing component in the photoacclimation process affecting both, synthesis and degradation of LHC II and appearance of acclimative LHC II proteolysis. The plastoquinol pool cannot be oxidized by linear electron flow in the mutant plants which are locked in a ‘high light’ acclimation state. The cytochrome b 6 f complex may be involved indirectly in the regulation of photoacclimation via 1) regulation of the plastoquinone redox state; 2) regulation of the redox-controlled thylakoid protein kinase allowing exposure of the dephosphorylated LHC II to acclimative proteolysis.

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  1. Dan-Hui Yang

    Present address: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, N1G 2W1

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Arrhenius Laboratories for Natural Sciences, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden

    Dan-Hui Yang & Bertil Andersson

  2. Division of Cell Biology, Linköping University, 581 85, Linköping, Sweden

    Bertil Andersson

  3. Department of Biology, University of Turku, 20014, Turku, Finland

    Eva-Mari Aro

  4. Center for Photosynthesis Research, Department of Biological Chemistry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904, Jerusalem, Israel

    Itzhak Ohad

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  1. Dan-Hui Yang
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  2. Bertil Andersson
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  3. Eva-Mari Aro
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Correspondence to Itzhak Ohad.

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Yang, DH., Andersson, B., Aro, EM. et al. The redox state of the plastoquinone pool controls the level of the light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b binding protein complex II (LHC II) during photoacclimation. Photosynthesis Research 68, 163–174 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011849919438

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