DnaJ proteins act as essential molecular chaperones in protein homeostasis and protein complex stabilization under stress conditions. The roles of a tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) chloroplast-targeted DnaJ protein (LeCDJ1), whose expression was upregulated by treatment at 4 and 42 °C, and with high light, NaCl, polyethylene glycol, and H2O2, were investigated here using sense and antisense tr...

Exposure of isolated thylakoids or intact plants to elevated temperature is known to inhibit photosynthesis at multiple sites. We have investigated the effect of elevated temperature (40 degrees C) for 24 hr in dark on rice seedlings to characterize the extent of damage by in vivo heat stress on photofunctions of photosystem II (PSII). Chl a fluorescence transient analysis in the intact rice le...

The photosynthetic processes that lead to water oxidation involve an evolution in time from photon dynamics to photochemically-driven electron transfer to coupled electron/proton chemistry. The redox-active tyrosine, Y(Z), is the component at which the proton currents necessary for water oxidation are switched on. The thermodynamic and kinetic implications of this function for Y(Z) are discusse...

A catalytic manganese (Mn) cluster is required for the oxidation of water in the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) of photosystem II (PSII) in plants. Despite this essential role of Mn in generating the electrons driving photosynthesis, limited information is available on how Mn deficiency affects PSII functionality. We have here used parameters derived from measurements of fluorescence induction k...

Diurnal variations in photosynthesis, chlorophyll fluorescence, xanthophyll cycle, antioxidant enzymes and antioxidant metabolism in leaves in response to low sink demand caused by fruit removal (-fruit) were studied in 'Zaojiubao' peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batch) trees during the final stage of rapid fruit growth. Compared with the retained fruit treatment (+fruit), the -fruit treatment resul...

The toxic effects of cadmium on the photosynthetic apparatus of Avicennia germinans were evaluated by means of the chlorophyll fluorescence transient O-J-I-P. The chlorophyll fluorescence transients were recorded in vivo with high time resolution and analyzed according to the OJIP-test that can quantify the performance of photosystem II. Cadmium-treated plants showed a decrease in yield for pri...

This work identifies LOW QUANTUM YIELD OF PHOTOSYSTEM II1 (LQY1), a Zn finger protein that shows disulfide isomerase activity, interacts with the photosystem II (PSII) core complex, and may act in repair of photodamaged PSII complexes. Two mutants of an unannotated small Zn finger containing a thylakoid membrane protein of Arabidopsis thaliana (At1g75690; LQY1) were found to have a lower quantu...

High temperature and high light intensity is a common environment posing a great risk to organisms. This study aimed to elucidate the effects of sub-high temperature and high light intensity stress (HH, 35°C, 1000 μmol⋅m-2⋅s-1) and recovery on the photosynthetic mechanism, photoinhibiton of photosystem II (PSII) and photosystem I (PSI), and reactive oxygen (ROS) metabolism of tomato seedlings. ...

The present work studies the effects of cold on photosynthesis, as well as the involvement in the chilling stress of chlororespiratory enzymes and ferredoxin-mediated cyclic electron flow, in illuminated plants of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Plants were sensitive to cold stress, as indicated by a reduction in the photochemistry efficiency of PSII and in the capacity for electron transport. However,...

Biochemical and functional changes in photosystem II (PSII) were investigated during natural senescence of maple (Acer platanoides L.) leaves. Three different types of senescing leaves were used: early senescent green (G), yellow green (YG) and yellow (Y). The main goal of this study was to investigate the dynamics of degradation of major photosynthetic proteins (D1, LHCII and Rubisco LSU) and ...