Light is the driving force of plant growth, providing the energy required for photosynthesis. However, photosynthesis is also vulnerable to light-induced damage caused by the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Plants have therefore evolved various protective mechanisms such as non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) to dissipate excessively absorbed solar energy as heat; however, photoinhib...

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 fluorescen...

To reveal and quantify the interactive effects of drought stresses and elevated CO2 concentration [CO2] on photochemistry efficiency of cucumber seedlings, the portable chlorophyll meter was used to measure the chlorophyll content, and the Imaging-PAM was used to image the chlorophyll fluorescence parameters and rapid light response curves (RLC) of leaves in two adjacent greenhouses. The result...

The goal of the current research was to study the role of anthocyanin accumulation, O(2)-related photochemical processes and non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) in the response of desert and Mediterranean plants to drought and excessive light. Plants of Hordeum spontaneum were collected from Mediterranean and desert environments and were subjected to terminal drought for 25 days and then measured...

Nitric oxide (NO) is one of the key elements in the complex signalling pathway leading to stomatal closure by inducing reversible protein phosphorylation and Ca(2+) release from intracellular stores. As photosynthesis in guard cells also contributes to stomatal function, the aim of this study was to explore the potential role of NO as a photosynthetic regulator. This work provides the first des...

In higher plants, high light conditions trigger the activation of non-photochemical quenching (NPQ), a process of photoprotective light energy dissipation, via acidification of the chloroplast lumen. Spectral changes occurring in the neoxanthin domain of the major light harvesting antenna complex (LHCII) have previously provided indirect evidence of a protein conformational switch during NPQ. W...

Photosynthetic microalgae have a high potential for the production of biofuels and highly valued metabolites. However, their current industrial exploitation is limited by a productivity in photobioreactors that is low compared to potential productivity. The high cell density and pigment content of the surface layers of photosynthetic microalgae result in absorption of excess photons and energy ...

High light poses a threat to oxygenic photosynthetic organisms. Similar to eukaryotes, cyanobacteria evolved a photoprotective mechanism, non-photochemical quenching (NPQ), which dissipates excess absorbed energy as heat. An orange carotenoid protein (OCP) has been implicated as a blue-green light sensor that induces NPQ in cyanobacteria. Discovered in vitro, this process involves a light-induc...

Non-photochemical chlorophyll fluorescence quenching (NPQ) plays a major role in the protection of the photosynthetic apparatus against damage by excess light, which is closely linked to the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The effect of a short heat treatment on NPQ and ROS production was studied with detached tobacco leaves by fluorescence imaging of chlorophyll and of the ROS sen...