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It has been hypothesized that plants can get beneficial trade-offs from viral infections when grown under drought conditions. However, experimental support for a positive correlation between virus-induced drought tolerance and increased host fitness is scarce. We investigated whether increased virulence exhibited by the synergistic interaction involving Potato virus X (PVX) and Plum pox virus (PPV) improves tolerance to drought and host fitness in Nicotiana benthamiana and Arabidopsis thaliana. Infection by the pair PPV/PVX and by PPV expressing the virulence protein P25 of PVX conferred an enhanced drought-tolerant phenotype compared with single infections with either PPV or PVX. Decreased transpiration rates in virus-infected plants were correlated with drought tolerance in N. benthamiana but not in Arabidopsis. Metabolite and hormonal profiles of Arabidopsis plants infected with the different viruses showed a range of changes that positively correlated with a greater impact on drought tolerance. Virus infection enhanced drought tolerance in both species by increasing salicylic acid accumulation in an abscisic acid-independent manner. Viable offspring derived from Arabidopsis plants infected with PPV increased relative to non-infected plants, when exposed to drought. By contrast, the detrimental effect caused by the more virulent viruses overcame potential benefits associated with increased drought tolerance on host fitness., (© 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The light-harvesting antenna of higher plant photosystem II (LHCII) has the intrinsic capacity to dissipate excess light energy as heat in a process termed nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ). Recent studies suggest that zeaxanthin and lutein both contribute to the rapidly relaxing component of NPQ, qE, possibly acting in the minor monomeric antenna complexes and the major trimeric LHCII, respectively. To distinguish whether zeaxanthin and lutein act independently as quenchers at separate sites, or alternatively whether zeaxanthin fulfills an allosteric role regulating lutein-mediated quenching, the kinetics of qE and the qE-related conformational changes (DeltaA535) were compared in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) mutant/antisense plants with altered contents of minor antenna (kolhcb6, aslhcb4), trimeric LHCII (aslhcb2), lutein (lut2, lut2npq1, lut2npq2), and zeaxanthin (npq1, npq2). The kinetics of the two components of NPQ induction arising from zeaxanthin-independent and zeaxanthin-dependent qE were both sensitive to changes in the protein composition of the photosystem II antenna. The replacement of lutein by zeaxanthin or violaxanthin in the internal Lhcb protein-binding sites affected the kinetics and relative amplitude of each component as well as the absolute chlorophyll fluorescence lifetime. Both components of qE were characterized by a conformational change leading to nearly identical absorption changes in the Soret region that indicated the involvement of the LHCII lutein 1 domain. Based on these observations, we suggest that both components of qE arise from a common quenching mechanism based upon a conformational change within the photosystem II antenna, optimized by Lhcb subunit-subunit interactions and tuned by the synergistic effects of external and internally bound xanthophylls.

Two mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana deficient in lutein have been investigated with respect to their responses to growth under a range of suboptimal conditions. The first mutant, lut1, was enriched in violaxanthin, antheraxanthin, zeaxanthin and zeinoxanthin compared with the wild-type (WT). In the second mutant, lut2, the lack of lutein was compensated for only by an increase in xanthophyll cycle (XC) carotenoids. Upon transfer of plants grown under optimal conditions to high light (HL), drought or HL + drought, both mutants acclimated during several days to the new conditions to the same extent as the WT. In contrast, transfer to chilling conditions (6 degrees C) for 6 days induced responses that were different between WT and mutants and between the mutants themselves. In contrast to the WT, the lut2 mutant in particular exhibited a large increase in the Chl a/b ratio and the XC pool size, extensive de-epoxidation and an enhanced extent of non-photochemical quenching. It is suggested that although the role of lutein in the structure and organisation of the light-harvesting complexes can be fulfilled by other xanthophylls under excess light conditions at optimal temperatures, this is not the case at low temperature.

Nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ) is the photoprotective dissipation of energy in photosynthetic membranes. The hypothesis that the DeltapH-dependent component of NPQ (qE) component of non-photochemical quenching is controlled allosterically by the xanthophyll cycle has been tested using Arabidopsis mutants with different xanthophyll content and composition of Lhcb proteins. The titration curves of qE against DeltapH were different in chloroplasts containing zeaxanthin or violaxanthin, proving their roles as allosteric activator and inhibitor, respectively. The curves differed in mutants deficient in lutein and specific Lhcb proteins. The results show that qE is determined by xanthophyll occupancy and the structural interactions within the antenna that govern allostericity.