USA: Two important proteins, VCCN1 and KEA3, have been found to be important in the regulation of photosynthesis by researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology and College of Natural Science at Michigan State University.
To simulate the light conditions found in nature, they performed a series of experiments on the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana by varying the light levels.
The mechanisms by which plants adjust to different light conditions are not fully understood. It is possible that plants that thrive in a laboratory environment will not do as well in an outdoor environment.
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For research purposes, plants are usually grown in greenhouses or laboratories under constant and uniform lighting conditions, which differ from those found in nature.
The foundation of plant development is photosynthesis, a complex, tightly controlled biochemical process. Energy from sunlight is captured during the process of driving the conversion of carbon dioxide and water to eventually produce oxygen and carbohydrates (glucose), the most fundamental food source. In response to changes in light, plants adapt their photosynthetic process.
Similar to the retina in our eyes, plants contain chlorophyll, a green pigment in their leaves that absorbs light. But plants must adjust to changes in their environment as too much light can be harmful to them. The dynamic regulation of photosynthesis is significantly influenced by the ion-transport proteins KEA3 and VCCN1.
It is well known that if the light is too bright, VCCN1 activates sun protection. When the light intensity decreases, it is destroyed by the sun protectant KEA3, allowing the plant to absorb the light it needs. But until now natural light has not been used to study these proteins.
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In the study, a new method was used to calculate photosynthesis with targeted gene knockouts, in which the KEA3 and VCCN1 protein-coding genes were deleted.
We experimented with steady, fluctuating and natural light, among other conditions. It was discovered that the light environment in which the plants were grown affected the activity of VCCN1 and KEA3.
The study results show that the ability of the two proteins to perform has a significant impact on both the amount of light received by plants and the frequency of light fluctuations.
Only plants previously grown under low light conditions were relevant to the light-protective function of VCCN1. Even when plants were grown under high light intensity conditions, KEA3, which elicited protection, was still active.
Sun protection also depends on how much variation in exposure to light the plants receive. When light conditions change significantly, plants produce the orange pigment zeaxanthin, which is also involved in sun protection.
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Thekla von Bismarck, "Our study shows that we should not consider the effects of growth light and the rapid responses to light fluctuations separately.
Future crop research will face a significant challenge in the increasingly complex integration of different time scales and metabolic levels. This will provide important information to increase crop yield in the field.