PICOSECOND TIME-RESOLVED STUDY ON THE NATURE OF HIGH-ENERGY-STATE QUENCHING IN ISOLATED PEA THYLAKOIDS - DIFFERENT LOCALIZATION OF ZEAXANTHIN DEPENDENT AND INDEPENDENT QUENCHING MECHANISMS
B. Wagner et al., PICOSECOND TIME-RESOLVED STUDY ON THE NATURE OF HIGH-ENERGY-STATE QUENCHING IN ISOLATED PEA THYLAKOIDS - DIFFERENT LOCALIZATION OF ZEAXANTHIN DEPENDENT AND INDEPENDENT QUENCHING MECHANISMS, Journal of photochemistry and photobiology.B, Biology, 36(3), 1996, pp. 339-350
The influence of the transthylakoid proton gradient on the kinetics of
picosecond fluorescence decay was examined using isolated pea thylako
ids having high or low zeaxanthin contents. Fluorescence lifetime meas
urements were performed with open (Fo) and closed (Fm) PS II reaction
centers. Zeaxanthin formation in membrane energized isolated thylakoid
s led to a marked decrease of the average fluorescence lifetime at bot
h Fm and Fo. In contrast, when zeaxanthin synthesis was blocked by the
inhibitor DTT, the fluorescence lifetime decrease was less pronounced
in the Fm state and totally missing in the Fo state. Samples containi
ng the uncoupler ammonium chloride did not exhibit any zeaxanthin infl
uence on the fluorescence decay kinetics. By detailed kinetic analysis
of the fluorescence data based on the exciton/radical pair equilibriu
m model it was possible to separately locate and quantify the effects
of zeaxanthin, on the one hand, and the proton gradient, on the other
hand, in terms of rate constants of individual primary processes withi
n PS II. It is shown that the enhanced non-photochemical fluorescence
quenching (NPQ) in the presence of zeaxanthin mainly originates in the
antenna, while without zeaxanthin smaller changes in the Fm state are
owing to changes in processes located at the reaction center. Possibl
e mechanisms of zeaxanthin dependent and independent nonphotochemical
fluorescence quenching in open and closed PS II are discussed.