[Effect of dibromothymoquinone on chlorophyll a fluorescence in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cells incubated in complete or sulfur-depleted medium].

The influence of dibromothymoquinone on chlorophyll fluorescence was studied in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cells using PAM and PEA fluorometers. The reagent affected differently control cells incubated in complete medium and S-starved cells. Thus, the fluorescence yield in the control essentially increased in the presence of dibromothymoquinone, which can be due to the inactivation of light-harvesting complex II protein kinase, followed by the suppression of membrane transition from high-fluorescence state 1 to low-fluorescence state 2. On the contrary, S-starved cells with membranes in state 2 showed a lower fluorescence yield in the presence of dibromothymoquinone than without it. The JIP test of OJIP fluorescence transients suggests that dibromothymoquinone inhibits both light-harvesting complex II kinase and photosynthetic electron transport when added to control, while in starved cells, it acts predominantly as an electron acceptor.