Non-photochemical quenching articles within Nature Communications

Featured

• Article
  29 January 2024 | Open Access

  The nature of carotenoid S* state and its role in the nonphotochemical quenching of plants

  Plant Light Harvesting complexes adjust to light conditions via a quenching mechanism involving carotenoids. The authors use computational simulations to reveal how carotenoids’ quenching capacity is tuned by conformational changes of the complex.

  • Davide Accomasso
  • , Giacomo Londi
  •  & Benedetta Mennucci

• Article
  19 October 2023 | Open Access

  Kinetics of the xanthophyll cycle and its role in photoprotective memory and response

  This study explores how the photosynthetic alga Nannochloropsis oceanica, rapidly adapts to changing light conditions, using a short-term “memory" system involving the xanthophyll cycle, which is widespread in photosynthetic organisms.

  • Audrey Short
  • , Thomas P. Fay
  •  & Graham R. Fleming

• Article
  14 July 2023 | Open Access

  Weak acids produced during anaerobic respiration suppress both photosynthesis and aerobic respiration

  The processes of photosynthesis, aerobic and anaerobic respiration (fermentation) power life on Earth. Here, using mainly green alga Chlamydomonas, the authors find that the weak acids produced during fermentation could chemically suppress both photosynthesis and aerobic respiration.

  • Xiaojie Pang
  • , Wojciech J. Nawrocki
  •  & Lijin Tian

• Article
  10 May 2023 | Open Access

  Widening the landscape of transcriptional regulation of green algal photoprotection

  A consensus genome-scale gene regulatory network reconstruction allows dissection of the transcriptional regulation of microalgal responses to light and carbon availability and discovery of novel regulators of photoprotection and CO₂ acquisition.

  • Marius Arend
  • , Yizhong Yuan
  •  & Dimitris Petroutsos

• Article
  08 April 2023 | Open Access

  Light-independent regulation of algal photoprotection by CO₂ availability

  Photosynthetic algae have evolved to survive in suboptimal light and CO₂ conditions. Here, the authors show that depletion of CO₂ can drive photoprotection and carbon acquisition even in the absence of light, that was previously believed to be indispensable for the activation of these processes.

  • M. Águila Ruiz-Sola
  • , Serena Flori
  •  & Dimitris Petroutsos

• Article
  28 October 2022 | Open Access

  Light activation of Orange Carotenoid Protein reveals bicycle-pedal single-bond isomerization

  Orange Carotenoid protein (OCP) is the only photoreceptor with a carotenoid for sensing. Here, the authors report crystal structures of the early OCP photoproduct, suggesting that photo-sensing involves single bond isomerization.

  • Volha U. Chukhutsina
  • , James M. Baxter
  •  & Jasper J. van Thor

• Article
  09 December 2021 | Open Access

  A different perspective for nonphotochemical quenching in plant antenna complexes

  Nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ) protects photosynthetic complexes from damage due to excess light. Here the authors explore different conformations of the plant CP29 light harvesting complex, showing how protein tuning of carotenoid excitation energies and carotenoid-chlorophyll interactions account for NPQ.

  • Edoardo Cignoni
  • , Margherita Lapillo
  •  & Benedetta Mennucci

• Article
  25 November 2021 | Open Access

  Plant LHC-like proteins show robust folding and static non-photochemical quenching

  Plant light harvesting complex (LHC)‐like proteins protect the photosynthetic machinery from excess light. Here the authors show that plant LHC‐like dimers are stabilized by associated pigments and can quench chlorophyll fluorescence via direct energy transfer from chlorophyll to zeaxanthin.

  • Petra Skotnicová
  • , Hristina Staleva-Musto
  •  & Roman Sobotka

• Article
  15 December 2020 | Open Access

  Direct energy transfer from photosystem II to photosystem I confers winter sustainability in Scots Pine

  Evergreen conifers rely on ‘sustained quenching’ to protect their photosynthetic machinery during long, cold winters. Here, Bag et al. show that direct energy transfer (spillover) from photosystem II to photosystem I triggered by loss of grana stacking in chloroplast is the major component of sustained quenching in Scots pine.

  • Pushan Bag
  • , Volha Chukhutsina
  •  & Stefan Jansson

• Article
  10 March 2020 | Open Access

  Observation of dissipative chlorophyll-to-carotenoid energy transfer in light-harvesting complex II in membrane nanodiscs

  Resolving the kinetics of energy dissipation during photosynthesis is challenging due to complex photophysics and the coexistence of multiple antenna proteins. Here Son et al. overcome this by applying ultrabroadband 2D spectroscopy to LHCII reconstituted in lipid nanodiscs, revealing mechanisms of dissipation enhanced by the membrane.

  • Minjung Son
  • , Alberta Pinnola
  •  & Gabriela S. Schlau-Cohen

• Article
  31 January 2020 | Open Access

  Charge transfer from the carotenoid can quench chlorophyll excitation in antenna complexes of plants

  The plant photosynthetic machinery quenches excess excitation energy to avoid photodamage. Here, via molecular dynamics and quantum chemical calculations, Cupellini et al. show that lutein/chlorophyll pairs in light-harvesting complex II can quench excess energy via a transient charge transfer state.

  • Lorenzo Cupellini
  • , Dario Calvani
  •  & Benedetta Mennucci

• Article
  13 September 2019 | Open Access

  Lhcx proteins provide photoprotection via thermal dissipation of absorbed light in the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum

  Photosynthetic organisms can dissipate excess absorbed light energy as heat to avoid photodamage. Here the authors show that induced thermal dissipation in the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum Pt4 is Lhcx protein-dependent and correlates with a reduced functional absorption cross-section of photosystem II.

  • Jochen M. Buck
  • , Jonathan Sherman
  •  & Bernard Lepetit

• Article
  10 September 2019 | Open Access

  The CONSTANS flowering complex controls the protective response of photosynthesis in the green alga Chlamydomonas

  In flowering plants, the CONSTANS (CO) and Nuclear Factor Y (NF-Y) transcription factors connect light perception to floral induction. Here Tokutsu et al. show that in the green alga Chlamydomonas, CO and NF-Y form an analogous complex that can prevent photodamage in response to excess light.

  • Ryutaro Tokutsu
  • , Konomi Fujimura-Kamada
  •  & Jun Minagawa

• Article
  24 September 2018 | Open Access

  OCP–FRP protein complex topologies suggest a mechanism for controlling high light tolerance in cyanobacteria

  Cyanobacterial photoprotection is controlled by OCP and FRP proteins, but their dynamic interplay is not fully understood. Here, the authors combine protein engineering, disulfide trapping and structural analyses to provide mechanistic insights into the transient OCP-FRP interaction.

  • Nikolai N. Sluchanko
  • , Yury B. Slonimskiy
  •  & Eugene G. Maksimov

• Article
  06 March 2018 | Open Access

  Photosystem II Subunit S overexpression increases the efficiency of water use in a field-grown crop

  Availability of irrigation water will be an increasing barrier to global crop yield increases. Here the authors show transgenic tobacco plants overexpressing Photosystem II Subunit S have less stomatal opening in response to light and a 25% reduction in water loss per CO₂ assimilated under replicated field trials.

  • Katarzyna Głowacka
  • , Johannes Kromdijk
  •  & Stephen P. Long