How plants refrain the ''sunstroke'' of photosynthetic apparatus
For plants, the only source of energy for all life functions is the light of our Sun. Transformation of light into a form usable by plants is ensured by the so-called light-harvesting complexes within plant chloroplasts. However, if there is too much light, these complexes could be damaged. Scientific teams from the Centre Algatech in Třeboň, the Faculty of Science of the University of South Bohemia and the Biological Centre of the ASCR have now revealed how that damage of light harvesting complexes is prevented in the plants.
Life on Earth depends on photosynthesis, the conversion of light energy into chemical energy. Plants collect photons by light harvesting complexes (LHC)—abundant membrane proteins containing chlorophyll and xanthophyll molecules. LHC-like proteins are similar in their amino acid sequence to true LHC antennae, however, they rather serve a photoprotective function. Whether the LHC-like proteins bind pigments has remained unclear. The detail analysis of these LHC-like proteins has been now published by the scientific teams of assoc. prof. Roman Sobotka from the Centre Algatech in Třeboň, prof. Tomáš Polívka from the Faculty of Science of the University of South Bohemia, and dr. David Bína from the Biological Centre of the ASCR.
Further information about research can be found on web pages of Lab of prof. Tomáš Polívka and Lab of assoc. prof. Roman Sobotka.
Publication: Skotnicová P, Staleva-Musto H, Kuznetsova V, Bína D, Konert MM, Lu S, Polívka T, Sobotka R.: Plant LHC-like proteins show robust folding and static non-photochemical quenching. Nat Commun. 2021 Nov 25;12(1):6890. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-27155-1.
