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ABSTRACT Functions of α- and β-branch carotenoids in whole-plant acclimation to photo-oxidative stress were studied in Arabidopsis thaliana wild-type (wt) and carotenoid mutants, lutein deficient ( lut2, lut5), non- photochemical quenching1 ( npq1) and suppressor of zeaxanthin- less1 ( szl1) npq1 double mutant. Photo-oxidative stress was applied by exposing plants to sunflecks. The sunflecks caused reduction of chlorophyll content in all plants, but more severely in those having high α- to β-branch carotenoid composition ( α/ β-ratio) ( lut5, szl1npq1). While this did not alter carotenoid composition in wt or lut2, which accumulates only β-branch carotenoids, increased xanthophyll levels were found in the mutants with high α/ β-ratios ( lut5, szl1npq1) or without xanthophyll-cycle operation ( npq1, szl1npq1). The PsbS protein content increased in all sunfleck plants but lut2. These changes were accompanied by no change ( npq1, szl1npq1) or enhanced capacity (wt, lut5) of NPQ. Leaf mass per area increased in lut2, but decreased in wt and lut5 that showed increased NPQ. The sunflecks decelerated primary root growth in wt and npq1 having normal α/ β-ratios, but suppressed lateral root formation in lut5 and szl1npq1 having high α/ β-ratios. The results highlight the importance of proper regulation of the α- and β-branch carotenoid pathways for whole-plant acclimation, not only leaf photoprotection, under photo-oxidative stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In higher plants, regulation of excess absorbed light is essential for their survival and fitness, as it enables avoidance of a build up of singlet oxygen and other reactive oxygen species. Regulation processes (known as non-photochemical quenching; NPQ) can be monitored by steady-state fluorescence on intact plant leaves. Pulse amplitude modulated (PAM) measurements of chlorophyll a fluorescence have been used for over 20 years to evaluate the amount of NPQ and photochemistry (PC). Recently, a quantum yield representation of NPQ (Φ NPQ), which incorporates a variable fraction of open reaction centers, was proposed by Hendrickson et al. [L. Hendrickson, R.T. Furbank, W.S. Chow, Photosynth. Res. 82 (2004) 73]. In this work we extend the quantum yield approach to describe the yields of reversible energy-dependent quenching (Φ qE), state transitions to balance PC between photosystems II and I (Φ qT), and photoinhibition quenching associated with damaged reaction centers (Φ qI). We showed the additivity of the various quantum yield components of NPQ through experiments on wild-type and npq1 strains of Arabidopsis thaliana. The quantum yield approach enables comparison of Φ qE with data from a variety of techniques used to investigate the mechanism of qE. We showed that Φ qE for a series of A. thaliana genotypes scales linearly with the magnitude of zeaxanthin cation formation, suggesting that charge-transfer quenching is largely responsible for qE in plants. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]