Plant Physiol. (1998) 116: 1053-1061
Heterogeneity and Photoinhibition of Photosystem II Studied
with Thermoluminescence1
Simone Andrée,
Engelbert Weis, and
Anja Krieger2, *
Institut für Botanik, Universität Münster,
Schlossgarten 3, 48149 Münster, Germany (S.A., E.W.); and Lehrstuhl für Botanik I, Julius-von-Sachs-Institut für
Biowissenschaften, Universität Würzburg, Mittlerer
Dallenbergweg 64, 97082 Würzburg, Germany (A.K.)
 |
ABSTRACT |
Thermoluminescence
(TL) signals were recorded from grana stacks, margins, and stroma
lamellae from fractionated, dark-adapted thylakoid membranes of spinach
(Spinacia oleracea L.) in the absence and in the
presence of 2,6-dichlorphenylindophenol (DCMU). In the absence of DCMU,
the TL signal from grana fractions consisted of a homogenous B-band,
which originates from recombination of the semi-quinone
QB
with the S2 state of the
water-splitting complex and reflects active photosystem II (PSII). In
the presence of DCMU, the B-band was replaced by the Q-band, which
originates from an S2QA
recombination. Margin fractions mainly showed two TL-bands, the B- and
C-bands, at approximately 50°C in the absence of DCMU, and Q- and
C-bands in the presence of DCMU. The C-band is ascribed to a
TyrD+-QA
recombination. In the absence of DCMU, the fractions of stromal lamellae mainly gave rise to a TL emission at 42°C. The intensity of
this band was independent of the number of excitation flashes and was
shifted to higher temperatures (52°C) after the addition of DCMU.
Based on these observations, this band was considered to be a C-band.
After photoinhibitory light treatment of uncoupled thylakoid membranes,
the TL intensities of the B- and Q-bands decreased, whereas the
intensity at 45°C (C-band) slightly increased. It is proposed that
the 42 to 52°C band that was observed in marginal and stromal
lamellae and in photoinhibited thylakoid membranes reflects inactive
PSII centers that are assumed to be equivalent to inactive PSII
QB-nonreducing centers.
 |
INTRODUCTION |
There exists a lateral heterogeneity in the distribution of
thylakoid protein complexes (Anderson and Andersson, 1988
; Albertsson et al., 1990
). It is known that all PSI complexes and ATP synthases are
located only in the nonappressed membrane domains. The Cyt b6/f complex occurs in both
membrane domains. Most PSII centers are located in the grana stacks,
but a minor population is located in the stroma-exposed thylakoid
region. Additionally, there exists a functional heterogeneity among
PSII centers that is correlated with their localization.
Based on PSII heterogeneity with respect to fluorescence induction, the
concept of PSII
and PSII
has been introduced (Melis and Homann,
1976
; for review, see Black et al., 1986
; Lavergne and Briantais,
1996
). PSII
, which is PSII associated with the light-harvesting
complex, is located in the grana stacks and represents the active state
of PSII. PSII located in the nonappressed thylakoids has a smaller
antenna than granal PSII, since it requires higher light intensities
for saturation of O2 evolution
(Mäenpää et al., 1987
). This fraction of PSII is
further divided into two types: PSII
, which is characterized by a
smaller antenna but otherwise normal functioning of the center, and
PSII
-QB-nonreducing, which, in addition to the
smaller antenna, has lost the ability to reduce plastoquinone (Melis
and Schreiber, 1979
; Melis, 1985
; Graan and Ort, 1986
). The latter
shows further differences with respect to the redox potential of
QA (Horton and Croze, 1979
; Thielen and van
Gorkom, 1981
) and the ability to oxidize water (Henrysson and Sundby,
1990
).
PSII, inactive in linear electron transport and photosynthetic water
splitting, seems to occur under different physiological conditions,
such as prior to or after photoinactivation. Prior to photoactivation,
the Mn cluster is not assembled and a shift of 150 mV toward a more
positive potential is found for the
QA/QA
redox couple (Johnson et al., 1995
). The same "high-potential" form
of QA is observed after
Ca2+ depletion (Krieger and Weis, 1992
; Krieger
et al., 1995
), Ca2+ being an obligatory cofactor
for photosynthetic water splitting (Debus, 1992
). Under light stress
Ca2+ release has been suggested to be involved in
the reversible inactivation of PSII and, by the dissipation of excess
energy, in the protection of PSII against photodestruction. Evidence
has been presented that the formation of a large proton gradient across
the thylakoid membrane may lead to a reversible
Ca2+ release from the donor side of PSII and, as
a consequence, to an inactivation of the water-splitting complex and a
shift in the redox potential of QA (Krieger and
Weis, 1993
; Krieger et al., 1993
).
Photodestruction of PSII will occur under prolonged light stress.
Photoinhibition occurs in two steps: (a) inhibition of PSII activity
and (b) degradation of the D1 protein (for reviews, see Prasil et al.,
1992
; Aro et al., 1993
). During photoinhibition the extent of D1
degradation is higher than its rate of resynthesis and an overall loss
of PSII activity occurs.
There is evidence that photoinhibition and reactivation of PSII occur
in sequential steps in the PSII damage-repair cycle. These steps
include light-induced impairment of electron transport, irreversible
damage of the PSII reaction center, triggering of the D1 protein for
degradation, resynthesis of the D1 protein, and reassembly and
photoactivation of PSII (Guenther and Melis, 1990
; Prasil et al., 1992
;
Aro et al., 1993
). It has been proposed by Guenther and Melis (1990)
that PSII
QB-nonreducing centers are involved
in the PSII damage-repair cycle.
To characterize PSII
and PSII
in thylakoid membranes, we
performed TL measurements, which can be used as a probe of the behavior
of PSII reaction centers, both in isolated systems and in whole leaves
(for reviews, see Sane and Rutherford, 1986
; Vass and Inoue, 1992
).
Samples are illuminated to generate charge pairs within the PSII
reaction center and are then rapidly cooled down to trap these
charge-separated states. Alternatively, samples are illuminated in the
frozen state. Subsequent warming leads to the emission of light
(luminescence) at characteristic temperatures. The emitted light
originates from recombination of trapped charge pairs, and the emission
temperature is characteristic of the charge pair involved. The peak
position of a TL-band strongly depends on the redox potential of the
involved charge pair. For example, recombination of the semiquinone
QB
with the
S2 state of the water-splitting complex yields a
TL-band at approximately 30°C, the so-called B-band (Rutherford et
al., 1982
). In the presence of DCMU, which inhibits the electron
transfer from QA to QB,
charge recombination between
QA
and
S2 and/or S3 state yields a
TL-band at approximately 10°C, the so-called Q-band (Rutherford et
al., 1982
). These bands are found in active PSII.
A high-temperature TL-band (C-band) with a temperature maximum between
45 and 55°C is observed in PSII lacking water-splitting activity.
This band has been observed after Tris washing (Inoue et al., 1977
) and
in Ca2+-depleted PSII (Ono and Inoue, 1989
;
Krieger et al., 1993
; Johnson et al., 1994
). The TL-band in
Ca2+-depleted PSII, inactive in water splitting
and showing a shift in the redox potential of QA,
is thought to arise from recombination of the charge pair
TyrD+-QA
(Johnson et al., 1994
). TL emission at a similar temperature has been
observed in PSII prior to photoactivation (Inoue et al., 1976
).
TL is a useful technique with which to study the heterogeneity of PSII
in the thylakoid membrane. In the present study we followed two
different strategies to characterize PSII
and PSII
present in the
thylakoid membrane. First, we addressed the question of whether there
exists a lateral heterogeneity in the localization of PSII
and
PSII
. We separated PSII
and PSII
using a biochemical approach:
fractionating dark-adapted thylakoid membranes into grana stacks
(without margins), margins, and stroma lamellae. By measuring the TL
bands of these fractions, we demonstrated the occurrence of
functionally different types of PSII and their distribution among the
compartments of the thylakoid membrane. Second, we increased the
relative amount of inactive PSII centers by photoinhibition of
thylakoid membranes. During photoinhibition the amount of PSII
decreases, as seen by the quenching of the TL intensity, while the
amount of inactive PSII remains essentially constant.
 |
MATERIALS AND METHODS |
Spinach (Spinacia oleracea L., cv Polka) was grown
hydroponically in nutrient solution (Randall and Bouma, 1973
) at 15°C
at a light intensity of 250 µmol quanta m
2
s
1 and a light period of 10 h
d
1.
Preparation of Thylakoids
Thylakoids were isolated according to the method of Robinson and
Yocum (1980)
. Thylakoids were resuspended in a buffer containing 20 mm Tricine, pH 7.8, 40 mm NaCl, 10 mm MgCl2, and 200 mm
sorbitol (resuspension buffer).
Grana, Margin, and Stroma Preparation
Grana and stroma membranes were fractionated using a modified
dual-detergent method (Leto et al., 1985
). Thylakoid membranes were
incubated first with digitonin at a final concentration of 0.4%
digitonin, 0.4 mg
1 Chl
mL
1 for 30 min at 4°C. The solubilization was
stopped by adding 10 volumes of ice-cold washing buffer (20 mm Tricine, pH 7.8, 40 mm KCl, 5 mm
MgCl2, and 200 mm sorbitol).
Nonsolubilized thylakoid membranes were removed by centrifugation with
a rotor (5 min, 3,000g, model SS34, Sorvall). The
supernatant was then centrifuged for 30 min at 42,000g to
separate the grana fraction (grana core and margins) from stroma
membranes (supernatant). The stroma membranes in the supernatant were
collected by centrifugation at 100,000g for 1 h. The
grana pellet was resuspended in washing buffer. A short (1 min at
20°C) incubation with 12.5 mg of Triton X-100, 1.5 mg
1 Chl mL
1 led to
separation of margins from grana core membranes. The solubilization was
stopped again by adding 10 volumes of ice-cold washing buffer. The
suspension was centrifuged at 42,000g for 30 min. The pellet containing grana membranes was washed twice to remove excess Triton X-100. The supernatant containing the margins was finally collected by
centrifugation at 100,000g for 1 h. Grana stacks,
margins, and stroma membranes were resuspended in a final buffer
containing 20 mm Hepes, pH 7.6, 40 mm KCl, 5 mm MgCl2, and 400 mm
sorbitol before being quickly frozen in liquid N2
and stored at
70°C.
PSI electron transport activity of the different fractions was measured
with a Clark-type electrode under saturating white light (4000 µmol
quanta m
2 s
1) in the
same buffer used for the final resuspension in the presence of 1 µm nigericin, 20 µm DCMU, 40 µm 2,6-dichlorphenylindophenol, 5 mm
ascorbate, 100 µm methyl viologen, and 1 mm
sodium azide.
PSII activity was measured in the same buffer in the presence of
1 µm nigericin and 1.5 mm
2,6-dimethylbenzoquinone. Linear electron transport was measured in
thylakoid membranes using 100 µm methyl viologen as
electron acceptor in the presence of 1 µm nigericin and 1 mm sodium azide. The average rate was 256 ± 47 µmol
O2 mg
1 Chl
h
1. Chl a, Chl b, and
pheophytin (PSII) were quantified by reverse-phase HPLC.
P700 (PSI) was calculated from the amplitude of
the absorption signal at 703 and 820 nm, respectively.
Photoinhibition Treatment
Thylakoid membranes were illuminated with white light (500 µmol
quanta m
2 s
1) in a
buffer containing 20 mm Hepes, pH 7.6, 40 mm
KCl, 5 mm MgCl2, and 330 mm sorbitol in the presence of 1 µm
nigericin. This treatment was performed in a water bath at 20°C. The
photoinhibitory treatment was done under nonphosphorylating conditions,
i.e. in the absence of ATP.
TL Measurements
TL was measured with a home-built apparatus. The sample holder
consisted of a horizontal copper chamber sealed by a glass window. For
cooling and heating, a three-stage Peltier element (Marlow Instruments,
Dallas, TX) was mounted below the chamber. The Peltier element
itself was embedded into a copper block and cooled by water
flowing through a spiral tube system inside the copper block. The
sample was illuminated with a fiber optic, either a halogen lamp or a
single-turnover flash lamp (Walz, Effeltrich, Germany). After
illumination, the fiber optic was removed and replaced by a
red-sensitive photomultiplier (Hamamatsu, Bridgewater, NJ). The
measuring window was the same size as the cuvette.
The sample was cooled down and heated via the Peltier element with a
heating rate of 0.5°C s
1, controlled by a
temperature-control box (Marlow Instruments). Temperature was measured
with a thermistor at the highest step of the Peltier element
(temperature controlling) and with a thermocouple on top of the sample.
Sample incubation and temperature regulation, data acquisition,
handling, and graphical simulation were performed as described by
Ducruet and Miranda (1992)
.
The samples (200 µg Chl mL
1) were incubated
for 2 min in the dark at 20°C, and, unless otherwise stated, were
then rapidly cooled to 0 or to
30°C and illuminated with a
single-turnover flash. After a short, dark incubation time (20 s at
0°C), the sample was warmed to 70°C with a heating rate of 0.5°C
s
1 and light emission was measured during the
heating. The measurements shown in Figure 2 were made with another
apparatus described by Ducruet and Miranda (1992)
.

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| Figure 2.
TL signals from dark-adapted fractions of
thylakoid membranes in the presence of 10 µm DCMU. TL was
charged by a single-turnover flash at 30°C. A, Grana stacks; B,
margins; and C, stroma lamellae. The ordinate was expanded by a factor
of 2 for margins and by 14 for stroma lamellae. For all signals, a
baseline was subtracted. The baseline was obtained by measuring the
sample holder without the sample. a.u., Arbitrary units.
|
|
 |
RESULTS |
Heterogeneity of PSII
To investigate the functional heterogeneity of PSII and the
localization of the functionally different states of PSII in the thylakoid membrane, we fractionated dark-adapted thylakoid membranes into grana stacks, margins, and stroma lamellae and measured the TL of
these fractions. A characterization of the different fractions is given
in Table I. TL signals of these fractions are shown in
Figure 1. TL was excited by a
single-turnover flash given at 0°C. In the grana fraction (Fig. 1A),
maximal TL emission occurs at 32°C. This is the so-called B-band,
which reflects
QB
S2
recombination (Rutherford et al., 1982
). The curve can be fit with a
single component. As expected, the grana fraction showed the largest
signal relative to Chl content because of the high amount of PSII
centers in this fraction of the thylakoid membrane.
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|
Table I.
Characterization of the different fractions from
thylakoid membranes from spinach: stroma lamellae, margins, and grana
stacks
Fractions were prepared with the detergent method (see ``Materials and Methods''). Values are averages ± se of five
different preparations.
|
|

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| Figure 1.
TL signals from dark-adapted fractions of
thylakoid membranes. TL was charged by a single-turnover flash at
0°C. For the TL measurements the sample was heated from 0 to 70°C
with a heating rate of 0.5°C s 1. A, Grana stacks; B,
margins; and C, stroma lamellae. The ordinate was expanded by a factor
of 2 for margins and by 7 for stroma lamellae. The same Chl content was
used for all measurements (200 µg Chl mL 1). a.u.,
Arbitrary units.
|
|
The TL signal of the margin fraction (Fig. 1B) consists of two peaks,
one with a maximum at approximately 15°C (52% of the total emission)
and the other one with a maximum at approximately 47°C. We consider
this high-temperature band as a C-band, which is thought to reflect
recombination of the charge pair
TyrD+-
QA
in PSII
(Johnson et al.,
1994
). Fitting the signal by graphical and numerical analysis (as
described by Ducruet and Miranda, 1992
) showed that the emission at
approximately 15°C consists of two bands, a Q-band arising from
QA
S2
recombination and a B-band arising from
QB
S2
recombination. In one preparation of this kind, the loss of the B-band
was even more pronounced; no B-band at all could be charged after a
single-turnover flash (data not shown). Detergents were used for the
fractionation of thylakoid membranes (see ``Materials and Methods''). These detergents might affect the QB-binding site
and result in a (partial) loss of QB, so that a
QA
S2
recombination occurs. A higher-temperature TL-band can be seen clearly
in the fraction of stroma lamellae (Fig. 1C). The maximal temperature
is approximately 42°C, and the B-band seems to be missing. The
overall TL emission obtained with the stroma fraction is very low
relative to the Chl concentration.
To determine whether the 42°C band was caused by the detergent
treatment of the thylakoid membranes, we performed TL measurements on
grana and stroma fractions that were prepared by the mechanical disruption technique using a Yeda press. The signals obtained were very
similar to those shown in Figure 1. The maximal emission temperature
for the band obtained with the stroma fraction was 43°C; the grana
fraction showed a B-band with the maximal emission at 30°C (data
not shown), indicating that the high-temperature TL-band observed in
the stroma fraction was not caused by the detergent treatment.
To determine whether this high-temperature band formed in the margin
and stroma fractions could be assigned to a C-band, we repeated the TL
measurements in the presence of DCMU (Fig.
2). In the presence of DCMU, the
electron transport from QA to
QB was blocked and the B-band was suppressed and
replaced by the Q-band in active centers. The TL signal of grana stacks
(Fig. 2A) consists mainly of a Q band (peak temperature at
approximately 2°C) and a small C-band at 48°C, which was not
observed in the absence of DCMU. In the absence of DCMU this band might
be hidden by the B-band. TL measurements of the margin fraction in the
presence of DCMU, (Fig. 2B) clearly show a Q-band and a C-band at
51°C. In the margin fraction (Fig. 2B), the Q-band has its maximum at 2°C, as in grana stacks (Fig. 2A).
The TL signal obtained in the presence of DCMU with the fraction of
stroma lamellae (Fig. 2C) shows two bands, one corresponding to a
Q-band at about 4°C and the second corresponding to a C-band at
52°C. The appearance of the Q-band shows that even in the stroma fraction a small amount of active PSII is present. Some light emission
in the temperature range of a Q-band is also seen in the absence of
DCMU. By the addition of DCMU, the peak temperature of the
high-temperature band was shifted from 42 to 52°C. In the literature,
peak temperatures between 45 and 55°C have already been reported for
the C-band. The TL intensity of the stroma fraction (Fig. 2C), which is
already very low in the absence of DCMU, is lowered by 50%. This
observation is in contrast to the results obtained with margin
fractions (Fig. 2B). A quenching effect of DCMU on stroma thylakoid
preparations has also been reported by Hideg and Demeter (1988)
.
To obtain more information about the high-temperature band in stroma
lamellae, we investigated whether the intensity of this band oscillates
with the number of flashes in the absence of DCMU. As shown in Figure
3 for one and two flashes, no oscillation
pattern was found. After three flashes, exactly the same intensity of the band was found. Without flash excitation no such TL-band was observed (not shown). This implies that the high-temperature band observed in the absence of DCMU is also a C-band and does not originate
from a recombination with one of the S-states of the water-splitting
complex.

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| Figure 3.
TL signals from the fraction of stroma lamellae in
the absence of DCMU. TL was charged at 0°C by one ( ) or two ( )
flashes. a.u., Arbitrary units.
|
|
For comparison, we measured the dependence of the TL signals of the
grana and margin fraction on the number of excitation flashes. The
B-band formed in grana stacks showed the typical period-four
oscillation (Rutherford and Inoue, 1984
). The maximum emission
intensity was observed either after the first flash, when the sample
was dark-adapted (5 min), or after the second flash, with a shorter
time of dark adaptation (data not shown). The maximum was observed
after the first flash, when most QB is in its
oxidized state prior to excitation. The intensity of the TL signal of
the margin fraction also oscillated with a period of four, showing the
maximum emission after the second flash, but the oscillation was much
more damped (data not shown). As already described, the TL signal
consists of three bands: the B-, Q-, and C-bands. Only the B-band
undergoes changes in intensity, depending on the number of excitation
flashes.
Photoinhibition Studies
We investigated whether photoinhibitory treatment leads to a
change in the amount of PSII
and PSII
. We wanted to address the
question of whether photoinhibition of PSII leads to preferential damage of active PSII. For this study, uncoupled thylakoid membranes were used to eliminate additional complications due to the formation of
a proton gradient across the thylakoid membrane during illumination. Figure 4A shows a typical TL curve from
dark-adapted spinach thylakoids in the absence of DCMU. The sample was
excited by a single-turnover flash at 0°C, and a B-band was formed at
35°C. In addition, a small band was formed with a maximal emission
temperature at 48°C. To show this more clearly, we fitted the TL
curve using the procedure described by Ducruet and Miranda (1992)
. As
can be seen in Figure 4B, the fit was much better with two (Fig. 4B,
top) than with one single component (Fig. 4B, bottom). The
small-intensity band at 48°C contributed 17% to the total intensity.

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| Figure 4.
TL signal from dark-adapted thylakoid membranes in
the presence of nigericin. The Chl concentration was 200 µg
mL 1. A, TL was charged by a single-turnover flash at
0°C. B, Fit of the curve shown in A. Smooth curve, measured signal; middle line, residuals; and top line, fit with two components (dotted lines).
Maximal emission temperature of the components was 35 and 48°C.
Bottom, Fit with one component, maximal emission temperature at 36°C.
The curve was fit from 5 to 60°C. C, TL was charged by approximately
15 s of continuous illumination (2100 µmol quanta m 2 s 1) during cooling the sample from 20 to
0°C. a.u., Arbitrary units.
|
|
To study the effect of photoinhibition, the sample was first subjected
to a photoinhibitory light treatment. TL was then excited by continuous
illumination instead of using a single-turnover flash. The reason for
this is that, during the photoinhibition treatment, long-lived charges
may be formed that do not relax after a short time of dark adaptation;
therefore, after a single-turnover flash, quite different charges might
be present depending on the degree of photoinhibition of the sample. In
Figure 4C, a TL curve is shown that was obtained by exciting
nonphotoinhibited, uncoupled, dark-adapted thylakoid membranes with
continuous illumination (2100 µmol quanta m
2
s
1) during cooling from 20 to 0°C. This short
illumination does not lead to any photoinhibition. Charging TL by
continuous illumination during cooling results in a more complex TL
curve, due to the increased number of combinations of charge pairs that
can be formed under these conditions. The distribution of S-states from
a dark-adapted sample is different; higher S-states are formed under
continuous illumination, whereas in a dark-adapted sample only the
S1- and the
S2-state are reached after a single-turnover
flash.
Figure 5 shows TL signals of thylakoid
membranes that were photoinhibited at 500 µmol quanta
m
2 s
1 for the times
indicated in the presence of an uncoupler. After only 2 min of this
relatively moderate illumination, a more pronounced TL-band occurred at
45 to 50°C compared with the TL curve measured before photoinhibitory
treatment. We considered this high-temperature band to be a C-band.
Prolonged photoinhibitory illumination led to a decrease of the B- and
Q-bands (TL emission between 0 and 40°C), whereas the C-band
increased during the first 15 min of photoinhibition treatment.
Prolonged light treatment (65 min) led to an overall loss of TL
emission, including a decrease of the relative intensity of the C-band.
During the photoinhibitory treatment, photosynthetic
O2 evolution was inhibited with comparable kinetics with respect to the decrease of the TL intensity of the B- and
Q-bands (data not shown).

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| Figure 5.
TL signals from photoinhibited thylakoid
membranes. Photoinhibition treatment was performed by illuminating
thylakoid membranes with white light (500 µmol quanta
m 2 s 1) at 20°C in the presence of
nigericin. After the photoinhibition treatment the samples were
transferred into the TL apparatus and darkened for 2 min at 20°C. TL
was charged by continuous illumination (2100 µmol quanta
m 2 s 1) during cooling the sample from 20 to
5°C. For clarity, the curves were displaced vertically; the
ordinate is the same for all curves. A baseline correction was
performed by subtracting a signal that was obtained from photoinhibited
thylakoids that were not illuminated during freezing. a.u., Arbitrary
units.
|
|
 |
DISCUSSION |
The data presented in this paper reveal a distribution of
functionally different PSII in the thylakoid membrane. As shown in
Figures 1 and 2, there is a lateral heterogeneity in the localization of PSII
and PSII
. The B-band (or Q-band), characteristic of PSII
, was dominant in the grana stack preparation (without margins). TL measurements of the fraction containing the margin region showed that it consists of both B- and Q-bands, characteristic of PSII
, and
a C-band, characteristic of PSII
. The stroma lamellae gave rise to a
high-temperature band in TL, which was considered to be a C-band (Figs.
1-3).
In stroma lamellae in the absence of DCMU, the peak temperature
(42°C) was relatively low for a C-band. By the addition of DCMU, the
TL-band was shifted to a higher peak temperature (52°C). The
intensity of this band did not oscillate upon varying the number of
excitation flashes (Fig. 3), which indicates that it cannot be
attributed to a B-band and that the S-states are not involved in the
formation of this band. Based on these observations we considered this
TL-band to be a C-band. We propose that the up-shift of the peak
temperature of the C-band was caused by DCMU. Herbicides are known to
influence the peak position of TL-bands. By the addition of different
herbicides the peak temperature of the Q-band can change by more than
15°C (Vass and Demeter, 1982
). Herbicides that bind in the
QB pocket might have a stabilization effect on
the redox potential of QA. In the margins, the
peak temperature of the C-band was lower in the absence of DCMU,
although the effect was less pronounced than in stroma lamellae. An
up-shift of the peak temperature of the C-band by 8 to 10°C upon the
addition of DCMU was shown recently for
Ca2+-depleted PSII membranes (Krieger et al.,
1998
). In most reports in the literature the C-band was measured only
in the presence of DCMU (Johnson et al., 1994
).
TL measurements of grana stacks (BBY particles) and stroma lamellae
have previously been published by Hideg and Demeter (1988)
, who
demonstrated that in stroma lamellae no emission, either in delayed
luminescence or in TL, was associated with recombination from
QB
. In stroma lamellae, they
observed a weak Q-band in both the presence and absence of DCMU, but
they did not see an emission at high temperature in the stroma lamellae
because they measured only up to 50°C.
A C-band can also be seen in preparations of whole thylakoid membranes
(Fig. 4) but is more obvious after photoinhibitory illumination. After
photoinhibitory treatment of uncoupled thylakoid membranes, the overall
intensity of TL emission is decreased (Fig. 5). Photoinhibition
decreased the ability to form the B-band (and Q-band) in TL, whereas
the intensity of the C-band increased during prolonged photoinhibitory
treatment (up to 15 min). This indicates that PSII
become
photoinhibited and no longer emit light, whereas PSII
are less
affected by light.
TL studies have previously been performed on photoinhibited, isolated
thylakoid membranes, both in the absence (Vass et al., 1988
; Farineau,
1990
) and in the presence of uncouplers (Farineau, 1990
), and in whole
cells of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Ohad et al., 1988
) and
pea leaves (Briantais et al., 1992
). In thylakoid membranes, the
intensities of the B- and Q-bands were reduced after photoinhibitory
illumination and no shift in the maximal emission temperatures of the
TL-bands was observed. These observations are in agreement with the
data shown here in Figure 5. However, Ohad et al. (1988)
reported a
different phenomenon for the in vivo system. In algae cells the maximal
emission temperature of the B-band was shifted by 15°C toward a lower
temperature after photoinhibitory treatment in addition to the decrease
in the intensity. This shift of the B-band observed might be due to the
presence of a proton gradient across the thylakoid membrane during the photoinhibitory treatment in whole cells, whereas this gradient might
have been less stable in the thylakoid membranes. We performed the
photoinhibitory treatment in the presence of an uncoupler to avoid the
additional complications caused by a proton gradient. Similar effects
as observed in algae have been reported for pea leaves (Briantais
et al., 1992
), in which an increase of a high-temperature band in
addition to the reduction of the intensity of the B-band after
photoinhibition was also shown. This agrees with results reported here
but was not studied in more detail.
From the data presented here it is not possible to decide whether the
C-band reflects PSII
that were already present prior to
photoinhibitory illumination and were not susceptible to damage by
light or, less likely, whether these PSII
were degraded and a
fraction of PSII
was converted into inactive centers at the same
time. Under our experimental conditions, both donor-side- and
acceptor-side-induced photoinhibition may occur (Prasil et al., 1992
;
Aro et al., 1993
). Even in uncoupled thylakoid membranes, at least a
fraction of PSII can become inactivated via an impairment of the donor
side of PSII, as has also been shown previously by Barényi and
Krause (1985)
.
The C-band is observed in PSII complexes unable to oxidize water, such
as Tris-washed (Inoue et al., 1977
),
Ca2+-depleted (Ono and Inoue, 1989
; Krieger et
al., 1993
; Johnson et al., 1994
), and nonphotoactivated PSII (Inoue et
al., 1976
). Ca2+-depleted PSII (Krieger and Weis,
1992
; Krieger et al., 1995
) and nonphotoactivated PSII (Johnson et al.,
1995
) show an up-shift in the redox potential of
QA (high-potential form) in addition to its
inability to oxidize water. Furthermore, fluorescence measurements indicated that in such centers no efficient electron transfer from
QA
to QB
is possible (Andréasson et al., 1995
; Johnson et al., 1995
). Our
data indicate that the C-band is present before photoinhibition (margins and stroma lamellae from dark-adapted thylakoid membranes) as well as after photoinhibition of thylakoid membranes.
The similar characteristics of the TL signals presented in this paper
compared with the observations mentioned above lead us to the
conclusion that the C-band reflects inactive centers that are
equivalent to the so-called PSII
QB
non-reducing centers, which have no functional water-splitting complex,
possess QA in the "high-potential form," and
are localized mostly in the margin and stroma fraction of thylakoid
membranes. These centers play an important role in the turnover of PSII
described in the PSII damage-repair cycle (Guenther and Melis, 1990
;
Prasil et al., 1992
; Aro et al., 1993
).
 |
FOOTNOTES |
1
This study was supported by the Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 251). A.K. was also supported by a
fellowship from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.
2
Present address: Institut für Biologie II,
Biochemie der Pflanzen, Universität Freiburg,
Schänzlestrasse 1, 79104 Freiburg, Germany.
*
Corresponding author; e-mail
ak{at}bop1.biologie.uni-freiburg.de; fax 49-761-203-2601.
Received August 29, 1997;
accepted November 20, 1997.
 |
ABBREVIATIONS |
Abbreviations:
Chl, chlorophyll.
PSII
and PSII
, active
and inactive PSII centers, respectively.
TL, thermoluminescence.
TyrD, a Tyr residue (in PSII) that can be photooxidized.
 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
A.K. would like to thank J.-M. Ducruet for his advice and help
with building the TL machine and for providing her with his software
for data acquisition, handling, and graphical simulation; U. Heber for
giving support for building the machine and for this study; and U. Schreiber and U. Schliwa for help with building the TL machine. We
would also like to thank A.W. Rutherford and C. Jegerschöld for
stimulating discussions and T. Mattioli for the critical reading of the
manuscript.
 |
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