Photosynthetica 2018, 56(1):150-162 | DOI: 10.1007/s11099-018-0768-x

Control of the maximal chlorophyll fluorescence yield by the QB binding site

O. Prášil1,*, Z. S. Kolber2, P. G. Falkowski3
1 Institute of Microbiology CAS, Center Algatech, Třeboň, Czech Republic
2 Soliense Inc., Shoreham, USA
3 Environmental Biophysics and Molecular Ecology Program, Departments of Marine and Coastal Science, and Earth and Planetary Science, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, USA

Differences in maximal yields of chlorophyll variable fluorescence (Fm) induced by single turnover (ST) and multiple turnover (MT) excitation are as great as 40%. Using mutants of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii we investigated potential mechanisms controlling Fm above and beyond the QA redox level. Fm was low when the QB binding site was occupied by PQ and high when the QB binding site was empty or occupied by a PSII herbicide. Furthermore, in mutants with impaired rates of plastoquinol reoxidation, Fm was reached rapidly during MT excitation. In PSII particles with no mobile PQ pool, Fm was virtually identical to that obtained in the presence of PSII herbicides. We have developed a model to account for the variations in maximal fluorescence yields based on the occupancy of the QB binding site. The model predicts that the variations in maximal fluorescence yields are caused by the capacity of secondary electron acceptors to reoxidize QA-.

Keywords: conformational change; electron transport; photosystem II; thylakoid membrane

Received: June 22, 2017; Accepted: September 12, 2017; Published: March 1, 2018Show citation

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Prášil, O., Kolber, Z.S., & Falkowski, P.G. (2018). Control of the maximal chlorophyll fluorescence yield by the QB binding site. Photosynthetica, 56(1), 150-162. doi: 10.1007/s11099-018-0768-x.
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