Event description
Abstract: Sunlight is a source of life for plants but also of photodamage. To harvest solar energy “safely”, plants have developed a nanoscale mechanism controlled by small proteins which bind pigments, called light-harvesting complexes (LHCs). At low light intensities, the LHCs harvest and transport solar energy to the sites of photochemistry. Under intense light, LHCs switch function to dissipate excess energy as heat. Through this photoprotective switch, the LHCs efficiently protect plants from photodamage. Current models assume that the switch is driven by protein conformational changes of the LHCs, regulated by the environment through pH changes and interactions with protein and cofactors. Yet, how do plants activate the LHC photoprotective switch? I will here introduce the methods under development in our group, aimed at: 1) rapidly controlling the microenvironment changes responsible of activating photoprotection, to determine the intermediate steps in the photoprotective switch of the LHCs in vitro. 2) controlling the conformational changes of LHCs and correlate them with energetic switches, to identify those driving the photoprotective switch.