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In this thesis, I used time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy to study regulation of excitation energy transfer (EET) and photoprotection in cyanobacteria and the green sulfur bacterium Chlorobaculum tepidum. Chapter 1 provides a general introduction for the rest of the thesis. Chapter 2 describes the study of EET in APC trimers, which are part of the antenna of cyanobacteria in crystal and functional forms. It is concluded that the same protein has at least two different structures in APC trimers and that the structure of APC trimers in crystal form deviates to some extent from the structure of APC in protein solution. Chapter 3 presents the study of state transitions in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus 7942. It is concluded that in state II photosystem II (PSII) is quenched and the spill-over of excitation energy from PSII to PSI is not involved in state transitions. It is also shown that in state I some of the phycobilisomes (PBSs) detach from both photosystems. Chapter 4 presents a model of photoprotection in the cyanobacterium Leptolyngbya ohadii, which is normally living in the desert. In the desiccated state, excitation energy in the PBS is severely quenched as compared to the hydrated state. It is concluded that the quenching is due to the loss of the organized structure of PC rods in the dry state. Chapter 5 present the study of EET in the green sulfur bacterium C. tepidum. It is demonstrated that the efficiency of EET does not depend significantly on the temperature and that the time scale of excitation energy trapping in the reaction centers is comparable with other much smaller photosynthetic systems such as that of cyanobacteria.

Dynamics of thylakoid membranes and mobility of pigment-protein complexes therein are essential for survival of photosynthetic organisms under changing environmental conditions. The published approaches to probe mobility of the thylakoid membrane lipids and protein complexes are either dependent on the use of external labels or are used only for in vitro studies. Here, we present non-invasive 1H NMR methods (DOSY and DRCOSY) to study dynamics of water in chloroplasts, lipids in oil bodies and in thylakoid membranes and pigment-protein complexes under complete in vivo conditions in leaf disks of F. benjamina and A. platanoides and in suspensions of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and blue-green alga Synechocystissp.PCC 6803. In leaf disks of Ficus benjamina and Acer platanoides, water in chloroplasts could be clearly discriminated from other pools. Both water in chloroplasts, and water in vacuoles of palisade and spongy cells showed resonances in the high field part of the spectra (with respect to pure water), in contrast to what has been reported in literature. Subepidermal cells (present only in F. benjamina but not in A. platanoides) may act as a water storage, buffer pool during drought. This pool prevented the fast loss of water from the chloroplasts. Nutrient stress and excess salt stress resulted in accumulated lipid bodies and in striking differences in the dynamics and spectra/composition of the different components. T2 values of the different components are compared with those observed in suspensions of Synechocystissp.PCC 6803. The differences in membrane composition (ratio of the different membrane lipids) were clearly observed in the DANS of the oil bodies and the (thylakoid) membranes, but the diffusion coefficients were quite comparable. Also the DANS of the component that is assigned to the pigment-protein complexes are quite different, reflecting the differed composition. The diffusion coefficients of this component in isolated spinach thyla

In this paper we propose an energy dissipation mechanism that iscompletely reliant on changes in the aggregation state of thephycobilisome light-harvesting antenna components. All photosyntheticorganisms regulate the efficiency of excitation energy transfer(EET) to fit light energy supply to biochemical demands. Not many dothis to the extent required of desert crust cyanobacteria. Followingpredawn dew deposition, they harvest light energy with maximumefficiency until desiccating in the early morning hours. In thedesiccated state, absorbed energy is completely quenched. Timeand spectrally resolved fluorescence emission measurements of thedesiccated desert crust Leptolyngbya ohadii strain identified (i) reducedEET between phycobilisome components, (ii) shorter fluorescencelifetimes, and (iii) red shift in the emission spectra, comparedwith the hydrated state. These changes coincide with a loss of theordered phycobilisome structure, evident from small-angle neutronand X-ray scattering and cryo-transmission electron microscopy data.Based on these observations we propose a model where in the hydratedstate the organized rod structure of the phycobilisome supportsdirectional EET to reaction centers with minimal losses due tothermal dissipation. In the desiccated state this structure is lost, givingway to more random aggregates. The resulting EET path will exhibitincreased coupling to the environment and enhanced quenching.

Photosystem II (PSII) complexes drive the water splitting reaction necessary to transform sunlight into chemical energy. However, too much light can damage and disrupt PSII. In cyanobacteria, the flv4-2 operon encodes three proteins (Flv2, Flv4 and Sll0218), which safeguard PSII activity under air-level CO2 and in high-light conditions. However, the exact mechanism of action of these proteins has not been clarified yet. We demonstrate that the PSII electron transfer properties are influenced by the flv4-2 operon-encoded proteins. Accelerated secondary charge separation kinetics was observed upon expression/overexpression of the flv4-2 operon. This is likely induced by docking of the Flv2/Flv4 heterodimer in the vicinity of the QB pocket of PSII which, in turn, increases the QB redox potential and consequently stabilizes forward electron transfer. The alternative electron transfer route constituted by Flv2/Flv4 sequesters electrons from QB - guaranteeing the dissipation of excess excitation energy in PSII under stressful conditions. In addition, we demonstrate that in the absence of the flv4-2 operonencoded proteins about 20% of the phycobilisome antenna becomes detached from the reaction centers, thus decreasing light harvesting. Phycobilisome detachment is a consequence of a decreased relative content of PSII dimers, a feature observed in the absence of the Sll0218 protein.

Photosynthetic organisms cope with changes in light quality by balancing the excitation energy flow between photosystems I (PSI) and II (PSII) through a process called state transitions. Energy redistribution has been suggested to be achieved by movement of the light-harvesting phycobilisome between PSI and PSII, or by nanometre scale rearrangements of the recently discovered PBSPSII- PSI megacomplexes. The alternative ‘spillover’ model, on the other hand, states that energy redistribution is achieved by mutual association/dissociation of PSI and PSII. State transitions have always been studied by changing the redox state of the electron carriers using electron transfer inhibitors, or by applying illumination conditions with different colours. However, the molecular events during natural dark-to-light transitions in cyanobacteria have largely been overlooked and still remain elusive. Here we investigated changes in excitation energy transfer from phycobilisomes to the photosystems upon dark-light transitions, using picosecond fluorescence spectroscopy. It appears that megacomplexes are not involved in these changes, and neither does spillover play a role. Instead, the phycobilisomes partly energetically uncouple from PSI in the light but hardly couple to PSII.

Photosystem II (PSII) is the pigment–protein complex which converts sunlight energy into chemical energy by catalysing the process of light-driven oxidation of water into reducing equivalents in the form of protons and electrons. Three-dimensional structures from x-ray crystallography have been used extensively to model these processes. However, the crystal structures are not necessarily identical to those of the solubilised complexes. Here we compared picosecond fluorescence of solubilised and crystallised PSII core particles isolated from the thermophilic cyanobacterium Thermosynechococcus elongatus. The fluorescence of the crystals is sensitive to the presence of artificial electron acceptors (K3Fe(CN)3) and electron transport inhibitors (DCMU). In PSII with reaction centres in the open state, the picosecond fluorescence of PSII crystals and solubilised PSII is indistinguishable. Additionally we compared picosecond fluorescence of native PSIIwith PSII inwhich Ca2 in the oxygen evolving complex (OEC) is biosynthetically replaced by Sr2+. With the Sr2+ replaced OEC the average fluorescence decay slows down slightly (81 ps to 85 ps), and reaction centres are less readily closed, indicating that both energy transfer/trapping and electron transfer are affected by the replacement.

Plants and green algae optimize photosynthesis in changing light conditions by balancing the amount of light absorbed by photosystems I and II. These photosystems work in series to extract electrons from water and reduce NADP+ to NADPH. Light-harvesting complexes (LHCs) are held responsible for maintaining the balance by moving from one photosystem to the other in a process called state transitions. In the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a photosynthetic model organism, state transitions are thought to involve 80% of the LHCs. Here, we demonstrate with picosecond-fluorescence spectroscopy on C. reinhardtii cells that, although LHCs indeed detach from photosystem II in state 2 conditions, only a fraction attaches to photosystem I. The detached antenna complexes become protected against photodamage via shortening of the excited-state lifetime. It is discussed how the transition from state 1 to state 2 can protect C. reinhardtii in high-light conditions and how this differs from the situation in plants.

Photosystem II (PSII) is the pigment–protein complex which converts sunlight energy into chemical energy by catalysing the process of light-driven oxidation of water into reducing equivalents in the form of protons and electrons. Three-dimensional structures from x-ray crystallography have been used extensively to model these processes. However, the crystal structures are not necessarily identical to those of the solubilised complexes. Here we compared picosecond fluorescence of solubilised and crystallised PSII core particles isolated from the thermophilic cyanobacterium Thermosynechococcus elongatus. The fluorescence of the crystals is sensitive to the presence of artificial electron acceptors (K3Fe(CN)3) and electron transport inhibitors (DCMU). In PSII with reaction centres in the open state, the picosecond fluorescence of PSII crystals and solubilised PSII is indistinguishable. Additionally we compared picosecond fluorescence of native PSII with PSII in which Ca2 in the oxygen evolving complex (OEC) is biosynthetically replaced by Sr2 +. With the Sr2 + replaced OEC the average fluorescence decay slows down slightly (81 ps to 85 ps), and reaction centres are less readily closed, indicating that both energy transfer/trapping and electron transfer are affected by the replacement.

Minor light-harvesting complexes (Lhcs) CP24, CP26 and CP29 occupy a position in photosystem II (PSII) of plants between the major light-harvesting complexes LHCII and the PSII core subunits. Lack of minor Lhcs in vivo causes impairment of PSII organization, and negatively affects electron transport rates and photoprotection capacity. Here we used picosecond-fluorescence spectroscopy to study excitation-energy transfer (EET) in thylakoid membranes isolated from Arabidopsis thaliana wild-type plants and knockout lines depleted of either two (koCP26/24 and koCP29/24) or all minor Lhcs (NoM). In the absence of all minor Lhcs, the functional connection of LHCII to the PSII cores appears to be seriously impairedwhereas the “disconnected” LHCII is substantially quenched. For both double knock-out mutants, excitation trapping in PSII is faster than in NoM thylakoids but slower than in WT thylakoids. In NoM thylakoids, the loss of all minor Lhcs is accompanied by an over-accumulation of LHCII, suggesting a compensating response to the reduced trapping efficiency in limiting light,which leads to a photosynthetic phenotype resembling that of low-light-acclimated plants. Finally, fluorescence kinetics and biochemical results show that the missing minor complexes are not replaced by other Lhcs, implying that they are unique among the antenna subunits and crucial for the functioning and macroorganization of PSII.

The structure of the unusually long (~100 amino-acid residues) N-terminal domain of the light-harvesting protein CP29 of plants is not defined in the crystal structure of this membrane protein. We studied the N-terminus using two electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) approaches: the rotational diffusion of spin labels at 55 residues with continuous-wave EPR, and three sets of distances with a pulsed EPR method. The N-terminus is relatively structured. Five regions that differ considerably in their dynamics are identified. Two regions have low rotational diffusion, one of which shows a-helical character suggesting contact with the protein surface. This immobile part is flanked by two highly dynamic, unstructured regions (loops) that cover residues 10-22 and 82-91. These loops may be important for the interaction with other light-harvesting proteins. The region around residue 4 also has low rotational diffusion, presumably because it attaches noncovalently to the protein. This section is close to a phosphorylation site (Thr-6) in related proteins, such as those encoded by the Lhcb4.2 gene. Phosphorylation might influence the interaction with other antenna complexes, thereby regulating the supramolecular organization in the thylakoid membrane.

Diatoms, which are primary producers in the oceans, can rapidly switch on/off efficient photoprotection to respond to fast light-intensity changes in moving waters. The corresponding thermal dissipation of excess-absorbed-light energy can be observed as non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) of chlorophyll a fluorescence. Fluorescence-induction measurements on Cyclotella meneghiniana diatoms show two NPQ processes: qE1 relaxes rapidly in the dark while qE2 remains present upon switching to darkness and is related to the presence of the xanthophyll-cycle pigment diatoxanthin (Dtx). We performed picosecond fluorescence measurements on cells locked in different (quenching) states, revealing the following sequence of events during full development of NPQ. At first, trimers of light-harvesting complexes (fucoxanthin–chlorophyll a/c proteins), or FCPa, become quenched, while being part of photosystem II (PSII), due to the induced pH gradient across the thylakoid membrane. This is followed by (partial) detachment of FCPa from PSII after which quenching persists. The pH gradient also causes the formation of Dtx which leads to further quenching of isolated PSII cores and some aggregated FCPa. In subsequent darkness, the pH gradient disappears but Dtx remains present and quenching partly pertains. Only in the presence of some light the system completely recovers to the unquenched state.

In this work we have applied picosecond and steady-state fluorescence measurements to study excitation energy transfer and trapping in intact Cyclotella meneghiniana diatom cells grown at different light intensities. Different excitation and detection wavelengths were used to discriminate between Photosystem I and II (PSI and PSII) kinetics and to study excitation energy transfer from the outer antenna to the core of PSI and PSII. It is found that the light-harvesting fucoxanthin chlorophyll proteins (FCPs) transfer their excitation energy predominantly to PSII. It is also observed that the PSII antenna is slightly richer in red-absorbing fucoxanthin than the FCPs associated with PSI. The average excitation trapping time in PSI is around 75 ps whereas this time is around 450 ps for PSII in cells grown in 20 µmol of photons per m2 per s. The latter time decreases to 425 ps for 50 µmol of photons and 360 ps for 140 µmol of photons. It is concluded that cells grown under higher photon flux densities have a smaller antenna size than the ones grown in low light. At the same time, the increase of growth light intensity leads to a decrease of the relative amount of PSI. This effect is accompanied by a substantial increase in the amount of chlorophyll a that is not active in excitation energy transfer and most probably attached to inactivated/disassembled PSII units.

LHCII, the most abundant membrane protein on earth, is the major light-harvesting complex of plants. It is generally accepted that LHCII is associated with Photosystem II and only as a short-term response to overexcitation of PSII a subset moves to Photosystem I, triggered by its phosphorylation (state1 to state2 transition). However, here we show that in most natural light conditions LHCII serves as an antenna of both Photosystem I and Photosystem II and it is quantitatively demonstrated that this is required to achieve excitation balance between the two photosystems. This allows for acclimation to different light intensities simply by regulating the expression of LHCII genes only. It is demonstrated that indeed the amount of LHCII that is bound to both photosystems decreases when growth light intensity increases and vice versa. Finally, time-resolved fluorescence measurements on the photosynthetic thylakoid membranes show that LHCII is even a more efficient light harvester when associated with Photosystem I than with Photosystem II.

Water oxidation in photosynthesis takes place in photosystem II (PSII). This photosystem is built around a reaction center (RC) where sunlight-induced charge separation occurs. This RC consists of various polypeptides that bind only a few chromophores or pigments, next to several other cofactors. It can handle far more photons than the ones absorbed by its own pigments and therefore, additional excitations are provided by the surrounding light-harvesting complexes or antennae. The RC is located in the PSII core that also contains the inner light-harvesting complexes CP43 and CP47, harboring 13 and 16 chlorophyll pigments, respectively. The core is surrounded by outer light-harvesting complexes (Lhcs), together forming the so-called supercomplexes, at least in plants. These PSII supercomplexes are complemented by some “extra” Lhcs, but their exact location in the thylakoid membrane is unknown. The whole system consists of many subunits and appears to be modular, i.e., both its composition and organization depend on environmental conditions, especially on the quality and intensity of the light. In this review, we will provide a short overview of the relation between the structure and organization of pigment-protein complexes in PSII, ranging from individual complexes to entire membranes and experimental and theoretical results on excitation energy transfer and charge separation. It will become clear that time-resolved fluorescence data can provide invaluable information about the organization and functioning of thylakoid membranes. At the end, an overview will be given of unanswered questions that should be addressed in the near future.

This review focuses on the light-harvesting properties of photosystem I (PSI) and its LHCI outer antenna. LHCI consists of different chlorophyll a/b binding proteins called Lhca’s, surrounding the core of PSI. In total, the PSI-LHCI complex of higher plants contains 173 chlorophyll molecules, most of which are there to harvest sunlight energy and to transfer the created excitation energy to the reaction center (RC) where it is used for charge separation. The efficiency of the complex is based on the capacity to deliver this energy to the RC as fast as possible, to minimize energy losses. The performance of PSI in this respect is remarkable: on average it takes around 50 ps for the excitation to reach the RC in plants, without being quenched in the meantime. This means that the internal quantum efficiency is close to 100 % which makes PSI the most efficient energy converter in nature. In this review, we describe the light-harvesting properties of the complex in relation to protein and pigment organization/composition, and we discuss the important parameters that assure its very high quantum efficiency. Excitation energy transfer and trapping in the core and/or Lhcas, as well as in the supercomplexes PSI-LHCI and PSI-LHCI-LHCII are described in detail with the aim of giving an overview of the functional behavior of these complexes.