Edoardo Andrea Cutolo, Roberto Caferri, Zeno Guardini, Luca Dall’Osto, Roberto Bassi
In natural environments plants are constantly confronted with the variability of the photosynthetically active light spectrum. Redox imbalances trigger state transitions (ST), a photoacclimation mechanism which involves the reversible phosphorylation/dephosphorylation of light harvesting complex II (LHCII) proteins. During ST, a mobile PSII antenna pool associates with PSI increasing its absorption cross section. However, the precise roles of Lhcb phosphorylation during ST remain largely elusive. We inactivated the complete Lhcb1 and Lhcb2 gene clades in Arabidopsis thaliana and reintroduced either wild type Lhcb1.3 and Lhcb2.1 isoforms, respectively, or versions lacking N-terminal phosphorylatable residues. While the substitution of Lhcb2.1 Thr-40 prevented the formation of the PSI-LHCI-LHCII complex, replacement of Lhcb1.3 Thr-38 did not affect the formation of this supercomplex, nor did influence the amplitude or kinetics of PSII fluorescence quenching upon state 1—state 2 transition. The Lhcb2 phosphomutant was still capable of ≈ 40% residual fluorescence quenching, implying that a yet uncharacterized, STN7-dependent, component of state transitions, contributes to the equilibration of the PSI/PSII excitation pressure upon plastoquinone over-reduction.

