Modulation of PsbS and flexible vs sustained energy dissipation by light environment in different species

• Contrasting acclimation strategies of photosynthesis and photoprotection were identified for annual mesophytes (spinach, pumpkin, and Arabidopsis) vs the tropical evergreen Monstera deliciosa. The annual species utilized full sunlight for photosynthesis to a much greater extent than the evergreen species. Conversely, the evergreen species exhibited a greater capacity for photoprotective thermal energy dissipation as well as a greater expression of the PsbS protein in full sun than the annual species. In all species, the majority of thermal energy dissipation [assessed as non-photochemical fluorescence quenching (NPQ)] was the flexible, ΔpH-dependent form of NPQ over the entire range of growth light environments. However, in response to a transfer of shade-grown plants to high light, the evergreen species exhibited a high level of sustained thermal dissipation (qI), but the annual species did not. This sustained energy dissipation in the evergreen species was not ΔpH-dependent nor did the low level of PsbS in shade leaves increase upon transfer to high light for several days. Sustained ΔpH-independent NPQ was correlated (a) initially, with sustained D1 protein phosphorylation and xanthophyll cycle arrest and (b) subsequently, with an accumulation over several days of PsbS-related one-helix proteins and newly synthesized zeaxanthin and lutein.

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