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Anthocyanins function as a light attenuator to compensate for insufficient photoprotection mediated by nonphotochemical quenching in young leaves of Acmena acuminatissima in winter

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Photosynthetica

Abstract

Anthocyanins and nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ) are two important tools that provide photoprotection in plant leaves. In order to understand how plants use these tools for acclimation to changing seasonal conditions, we investigated pigments, antioxidative capacity, and photosynthesis in leaves of an evergreen tree (Acmena acuminatissima) in two contrasting seasons. Young leaves of A. acuminatissima appeared in distinct colors, being light green in summer and red in winter due to the presence of anthocyanins. In the winter young leaves, anthocyanins contributed less than 2% to the antioxidant pool. In the summer, young leaves had higher NPQ than that of mature leaves, but in the winter, they did not derive any NPQ-related advantage over mature leaves. These results suggest that the accumulation of anthocyanins in young leaves in the winter may compensate for the insufficient photoprotection afforded by NPQ and that anthocyanins function as a light attenuator to protect the photochemical apparatus against excess light.

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Abbreviations

C i :

intercellular CO2 concentration

Car:

carotenoid

Chl:

chlorophyll

DPPH:

1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl

E :

transpiration rate

ETR:

electron transport rate

Fv/Fm :

maximum photochemical efficiency of PSII

g s :

stomatal conductance

ML:

mature leaves

NPQ:

nonphotochemical quenching

P N :

net light-saturated photosynthetic rate

ΦPSII :

effective photochemical efficiency of PSII

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Food Engineering and Biology Technology, Hanshan Normal University, Chaozhou, Guangdong Province, 521041, China

    H. Zhu

  2. Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Subtropical Biodiversity and Biomonitoring, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Biotechnology for Plant Development, School of Life Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China

    T.-J. Zhang, J. Zheng, X.-D. Huang, Z.-C. Yu & C.-L. Peng

  3. Division of Plant Sciences, Research School of Biology, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, The Australian National University, Acton, Australian Capital Territory, 2601, Australia

    W. S. Chow

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  1. H. Zhu
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  2. T.-J. Zhang
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  4. X.-D. Huang
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to C.-L. Peng or W. S. Chow.

Additional information

Acknowledgements: This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31570398, 31270287). The study was also supported by the key program of Guangdong Province Natural Science Foundation (2014A070713039; 2015A030311023; 2016A030303063)

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Zhu, H., Zhang, TJ., Zheng, J. et al. Anthocyanins function as a light attenuator to compensate for insufficient photoprotection mediated by nonphotochemical quenching in young leaves of Acmena acuminatissima in winter. Photosynthetica 56, 445–454 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11099-017-0740-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11099-017-0740-1

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