Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: Significance Optimizing the balance between light harvesting and photoprotection holds great promise for improving photosynthetic efficiency and ultimately crop yields. The switch between these two states is regulated by xanthophyll cycling, which occurs in response to changing light conditions. Two xanthophyll cycles have been described in vascular plants: the violaxanthin cycle and the lutein epoxide cycle. The contribution of the lutein epoxide cycle to photosynthesis has been difficult to dissect because the violaxanthin cycle often functions in parallel and responds more rapidly. The introduction of the lutein epoxide cycle into Arabidopsis thaliana creates a model system in which to study this ecologically significant but less well-characterized xanthophyll cycle and reveals its role in modulating a rapidly reversible component of nonphotochemical quenching of chlorophyll a fluorescence in response to light.
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2740720315