The Solar Action Spectrum of Photosystem II Damage 1[W][OA]
Date
2010
Authors
Takahashi, Shunichi
Milward, Sara
Yamori, Wataru
Evans, John
Hillier, Warwick
Badger, Murray
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
American Society of Plant Biologists
Abstract
The production of oxygen and the supply of energy for life on earth rely on the process of photosynthesis using sunlight. Paradoxically, sunlight damages the photosynthetic machinery, primarily photosystem II (PSII), leading to photoinhibition and loss of plant performance. However, there is uncertainty about which wavelengths are most damaging to PSII under sunlight. In this work we examined this in a simple experiment where Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) leaves were exposed to different wavelengths of sunlight by dispersing the solar radiation across the surface of the leaf via a prism. To isolate only the process of photodamage, the repair of photodamaged PSII was inhibited by infiltration of chloramphenicol into the exposed leaves. The extent of photodamage was then measured as the decrease in the maximum quantum yield of PSII using an imaging pulse amplitude modulation fluorometer. Under the experimental light conditions, photodamage to PSII occurred most strongly in regions exposed to ultraviolet (UV) or yellow light. The extent of UV photodamage under incident sunlight would be greater than we observed when one corrects for the optical efficiency of our system. Our results suggest that photodamage to PSII under sunlight is primarily associated with UV rather than photosynthetically active light wavelengths.
Description
Keywords
Keywords: Arabidopsis; article; metabolism; photosystem II; plant leaf; radiation exposure; sunlight; Arabidopsis; Photosystem II Protein Complex; Plant Leaves; Sunlight; Arabidopsis; Arabidopsis thaliana
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Source
Plant Physiology
Type
Journal article
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2037-12-31