Anomalous Temperature Dependence of the Triplet-Triplet Energy Transfer in I(L177)H Mutant Reaction Centers.

In photosynthetic reaction centers, quenching of the primary donor triplet state by energy transfer to the carotenoid molecule provides efficient suppression of generation of singlet-excited oxygen, potent chemical oxidant. This process in the reaction centers is thermoactivated, and discontinues at temperatures below 40 K. In these reaction centers, substitution of amino acid residue isoleucine at the 177 position of the L-subunit with histidine results in the sharp decrease of activation energy, so that the carotenoid triplets are populated even at 10 K.

Dependence of state transitions on illumination time in arabidopsis and barley plants.

Solar energy absorbed by plants can be redistributed between photosystems in the process termed "state transitions" (ST). ST represents a reversible transition of a part of the PSII light harvesting complex (L-LHCII) between photosystem II (PSII) and photosystem I (PSI) in response to the change in light spectral composition. The present work demonstrates a slower development of the state 1 to state 2 transition, i.

Selective Excitation of Carotenoids of the Allochromatium vinosum Light-Harvesting LH2 Complexes Leads to Oxidation of Bacteriochlorophyll.

The mechanism of bacteriochlorophyll photooxidation in light-harvesting complexes of a number of purple photosynthetic bacteria when the complexes are excited into the carotenoid absorption bands remains unclear for many years. Here, using narrow-band laser illumination we measured action spectrum of this process for the spectral ranges of carotenoid and bacteriochlorophyll. It is shown that bacteriochlorophyll excitation results in almost no photooxidation of these molecules, while carotenoid excitation leads to oxidation with quantum yield of about 0,0003.

Quantification of superoxide radical production in thylakoid membrane using cyclic hydroxylamines.

Applicability of two lipophilic cyclic hydroxylamines (CHAs), CM-H and TMT-H, and two hydrophilic CHAs, CAT1-H and DCP-H, for detection of superoxide anion radical (O2(∙-)) produced by the thylakoid photosynthetic electron transfer chain (PETC) of higher plants under illumination has been studied. ESR spectrometry was applied for detection of the nitroxide radical originating due to CHAs oxidation by O2(∙-). CHAs and corresponding nitroxide radicals were shown to be involved in side reactions with PETC which could cause miscalculation of O2(∙-) production rate.

Photosynthetic electron flow to oxygen and diffusion of hydrogen peroxide through the chloroplast envelope via aquaporins.

Light-induced generation of superoxide radicals and hydrogen peroxide in isolated thylakoids has been studied with a lipophilic spin probe, cyclic hydroxylamine 1-hydroxy-4-isobutyramido-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinium (TMT-H) to detect superoxide radicals, and the spin trap α-(4-pyridyl-1-oxide)-N-tert-butylnitron (4-POBN) to detect hydrogen peroxide-derived hydroxyl radicals. Accumulation of the radical products of the above reactions has been followed using electron paramagnetic resonance. It is found that the increased production of superoxide radicals and hydrogen peroxide in higher light is due to the enhanced production of these species within the thylakoid membrane, rather than outside the membrane.

Production of superoxide in chloroplast thylakoid membranes ESR study with cyclic hydroxylamines of different lipophilicity.

Accumulation of nitroxide radicals, DCP· or TMT·, under illumination of a thylakoid suspension containing either hydrophilic, DCP-H, or lipophilic, TMT-H, cyclic hydroxylamines that have high rate constants of the reaction with superoxide radicals, was measured using ESR. A slower accumulation of TMT· in contrast with DCP· accumulation was explained by re-reduction of TMT· by the carriers of the photosynthetic electron transport chain within the membrane. Superoxide dismutase suppressed TMT· accumulation to a lesser extent than DCP· accumulation.

EPR characterisation of the triplet state in photosystem II reaction centers with singly reduced primary acceptor Q(A).

The triplet states of photosystem II core particles from spinach were studied using time-resolved cw EPR technique at different reduction states of the iron--quinone complex of the reaction center primary electron acceptor. With doubly reduced primary acceptor, the well-known photosystem II triplet state characterised by zero-field splitting parameters |D|=0.0286 cm(-1), |E|=0.