Abstract
The plastoquinone (PQ) pool of the photosynthetic electron transport chain becomes reduced under anaerobic conditions. Here, anaerobiosis was used as a tool to manipulate the PQ-pool redox state in darkness and to study the effects of the PQ-redox state on the Chl-a fluorescence (OJIP) kinetics in pea leaves (Pisum sativum L.). It is shown that the FJ (fluorescence intensity at 3 ms) is linearly related to the area above the OJ-phase (first 3 ms) representing the reduction of the acceptor side of photosystem II (PSII) and FJ is also linearly related to the area above the JI-phase (3–30 ms) that parallels the reduction of the PQ-pool. This means that FJ depends on the availability of oxidized PQ-molecules bound to the QB-site. The linear relationships between FJ and the two areas indicate that FJ is not sensitive to energy transfer between PSII-antennae (connectivity). It is further shown that a ∼94% reduced PQ-pool is in equilibrium with a ∼19% reduction of QA (primary quinone acceptor of PSII). The non-linear relationship between the initial fluorescence value (F20 μs) and the area above the OJ-phase supports the idea that F20 μs is sensitive to connectivity. This is reinforced by the observation that this non-linearity can be overcome by transforming the F20 μs-values into [QA −]-values.
Based on the FJ-value of the OJIP-transient, a simple method for the quantification of the redox state of the PQ-pool is proposed.
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Abbreviations
- Chl:
-
Chlorophyll
- DCMU:
-
3-(3′,4′-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea
- FNR:
-
Ferredoxin-NADP+-reductase
- F0 :
-
Fluorescence intensity at 20 μs when all reaction centres are open
- F20 μs :
-
Fluorescence intensity measured at 20 μs, also called apparent F0
- FJ :
-
Fluorescence intensity at ∼3 ms
- FJ-ox :
-
FJ-value after 10 s of far-red pre-illumination
- FI :
-
Fluorescence intensity at ∼30 ms
- Fp :
-
The maximum measured fluorescence intensity
- Fm :
-
Fluorescence intensity when all PSII reaction centres are closed
- I820 nm :
-
A measure for the transmitted light at 820 nm
- I820 nm-10s FR:
-
Transmission value obtained after 10 s of far-red illumination
- OJIP-transient:
-
Fluorescence induction transient defined by the names of its intermediate steps
- P680 and P700:
-
The primary electron donors of photosystems II and I, respectively
- PC:
-
Plastocyanin
- PQ:
-
Plastoquinone
- QA and QB :
-
Primary and secondary quinone electron acceptors of photosystem II, respectively
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Dr M. Tsimilli-Michael for her critical comments on the manuscript.
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Szilvia Z. Tóth and Gert Schansker contributed equally to this study.
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Tóth, S.Z., Schansker, G. & Strasser, R.J. A non-invasive assay of the plastoquinone pool redox state based on the OJIP-transient. Photosynth Res 93, 193–203 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-007-9179-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-007-9179-8