Effect of cadmium on photosystem II activity in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: Alteration of O-J-I-P fluorescence transients indicating the change of apparent activation energies within photosystem II

François Perreault, Jérôme Dionne, Olivier Didur, Philippe Juneau, Radovan Popovic

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

34 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this study, we evaluated how cadmium inhibitory effect on photosystem II and I electron transport may affect light energy conversion into electron transport by photosystem II. To induce cadmium effect on the photosynthetic apparatus, we exposed Chlamydomonas reinhardtii 24 h to 0-4.62 μM Cd 2+. By evaluating the half time of fluorescence transients O-J-I-P at different temperatures (20-30°C), we were able to determine the photosystem II apparent activation energies for different reduction steps of photosystem II, indicated by the O-J-I-P fluorescence transients. The decrease of the apparent activation energies for PSII electron transport was found to be strongly related to the cadmium-induced inhibition of photosynthetic electron transport. We found a strong correlation between the photosystem II apparent activation energies and photosystem II oxygen evolution rate and photosystem I activity. Different levels of cadmium inhibition at photosystem II water-splitting system and photosystem I activity showed that photosystem II apparent activation energies are strongly dependent to photosystem II donor and acceptor sides. Therefore, the oxido-reduction state of whole photosystem II and I electron transport chain affects the conversion of light energy from antenna complex to photosystem II electron transport.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)151-157
Number of pages7
JournalPhotosynthesis research
Volume107
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2011
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Activation energy
  • Cadmium
  • Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
  • Oxygen-evolving complex
  • Photosystem I
  • Photosystem II

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biochemistry
  • Plant Science
  • Cell Biology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Effect of cadmium on photosystem II activity in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: Alteration of O-J-I-P fluorescence transients indicating the change of apparent activation energies within photosystem II'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this