: Carotenes and xanthophylls act as photoreceptors in the photosystems of plants and algae by absorbing light energy which drives photosynthetic electron transport. Moreover, these carotenoid pigments protect chloroplasts from excess light and from reactive species generated during oxygenic photosynthesis. These pigments share similar spectral properties, a feature which contrasts with the extreme level of conservation of their relative composition and abundance in leaves across taxa. Such a conservation through evolution suggested each carotenoid species had a peculiar role, which indeed has been investigated by different approaches. These studies included the purification of individual carotenoid-binding proteins and their characterization in vitro. In a complementary approach, plant and algal mutants devoid of selected carotenoid species have been produced. The physiological characterization of these mutants revealed that the integrated contributions of all carotenoid species provide the most efficient response to photooxidative stress. In this chapter, we provide step-by-step guides for characterizing the in vivo antioxidant activity of carotenoids in plants and green algae, and methods for quantifying the effect of photooxidative stress in genotypes with altered carotenoid composition or impaired defense mechanisms.

Assessing photoprotective functions of carotenoids in photosynthetic systems of plants and green algae

Caferri, Roberto
Writing – Original Draft Preparation
;
Guardini, Zeno
Writing – Original Draft Preparation
;
Bassi, Roberto
Writing – Review & Editing
;
Dall'Osto, Luca
Writing – Review & Editing
2022-01-01

Abstract

: Carotenes and xanthophylls act as photoreceptors in the photosystems of plants and algae by absorbing light energy which drives photosynthetic electron transport. Moreover, these carotenoid pigments protect chloroplasts from excess light and from reactive species generated during oxygenic photosynthesis. These pigments share similar spectral properties, a feature which contrasts with the extreme level of conservation of their relative composition and abundance in leaves across taxa. Such a conservation through evolution suggested each carotenoid species had a peculiar role, which indeed has been investigated by different approaches. These studies included the purification of individual carotenoid-binding proteins and their characterization in vitro. In a complementary approach, plant and algal mutants devoid of selected carotenoid species have been produced. The physiological characterization of these mutants revealed that the integrated contributions of all carotenoid species provide the most efficient response to photooxidative stress. In this chapter, we provide step-by-step guides for characterizing the in vivo antioxidant activity of carotenoids in plants and green algae, and methods for quantifying the effect of photooxidative stress in genotypes with altered carotenoid composition or impaired defense mechanisms.
2022
978-0-323-91351-5
Light-harvesting complexes
Lipid peroxidation
Photobleaching
Photoprotection
Photosystems
Protein carbonylation
ROS detection
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Caferri et al., 2022 MIE chapter.pdf

solo utenti autorizzati

Descrizione: PDF capitolo
Tipologia: Versione dell'editore
Licenza: Accesso ristretto
Dimensione 1.34 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
1.34 MB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri   Richiedi una copia

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11562/1088269
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? 3
  • Scopus 6
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 5
social impact