Photosynthesis articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ) protects photosynthetic complexes from damage due to excess light. Here the authors explore different conformations of the plant CP29 light harvesting complex, showing how protein tuning of carotenoid excitation energies and carotenoid-chlorophyll interactions account for NPQ.

    • Edoardo Cignoni
    • , Margherita Lapillo
    •  & Benedetta Mennucci

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Plant light harvesting complex (LHC)‐like proteins protect the photosynthetic machinery from excess light. Here the authors show that plant LHC‐like dimers are stabilized by associated pigments and can quench chlorophyll fluorescence via direct energy transfer from chlorophyll to zeaxanthin.

    • Petra Skotnicová
    • , Hristina Staleva-Musto
    •  & Roman Sobotka

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Despite extensive characterization of crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) in terrestrial angiosperms, little attention has been given to aquatics and early diverging land plants. Here, the authors assemble the genome of Isoetes taiwanensis and investigate the genetic factors driving CAM in this aquatic lycophyte.

    • David Wickell
    • , Li-Yaung Kuo
    •  & Fay-Wei Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photosynthetic Complex I (PS-CI) is proposed to couple ferredoxin oxidation and plastoquinone reduction to proton pumping across thylakoid membranes. Here the authors determine the reduction potentials of the iron-sulphur clusters of PS-CI and thus the bioenergetics of the electron transfer relay.

    • Katherine H. Richardson
    • , John J. Wright
    •  & Maxie M. Roessler

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The fraction of leaf nitrogen allocated to RuBisCO indicates differing nitrogen use strategies of plants and varies considerably. Here the authors show that this variation is largely driven by leaf thickness and phosphorus content with light intensity, atmospheric dryness and soil pH also having considerable influence.

    • Xiangzhong Luo
    • , Trevor F. Keenan
    •  & Yao Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It is currently thought that the thylakoid proteins PGRL1 and PGR5 form a complex to mediate cyclic electron flow (CEF) around photosystem I. Here the authors show that CEF can in fact be mediated by PGR5 alone and that PGRL1 and the homologous PGRL2 modify the process by modulating PGR5 activity and stability.

    • Thilo Rühle
    • , Marcel Dann
    •  & Dario Leister

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cyanobacterial thylakoid membranes host the molecular machinery for the light-dependent reactions of photosynthesis and respiratory electron flow. Here, the authors show that newly synthesized thylakoids emerge between the plasma membrane and pre-existing thylakoids and describe the time-dependent assembly process of photosynthetic complexes.

    • Tuomas Huokko
    • , Tao Ni
    •  & Lu-Ning Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Acaryochloris marina photosystem I (PSI) contains chlorophyll d and absorbs light in the far-red region of the spectrum. The structure of A. marina PSI reaction center reveals several unusual features, including pheophytin as the primary electron acceptor.

    • Tasuku Hamaguchi
    • , Keisuke Kawakami
    •  & Yasuhiro Kashino

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cryptophytes acquired plastids from red algae but replaced the light-harvesting phycobilisome with a unique cryptophyte antenna. Here via analysis of phycobilisome cryo-EM structures, Rathbone et al. propose that the α subunit of the cryptophyte antenna originated from phycobilisome linker proteins

    • Harry W. Rathbone
    • , Katharine A. Michie
    •  & Paul M. G. Curmi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photosystems (PS) I and II undergo state transitions to optimize photosynthesis and photoprotection. Here the authors report a cryo-electron microscopy structure of the state 2 PSI-LHCI-LHCII supercomplex from C. reinhardtii revealing subunit organization and possible pathways of energy transfer.

    • Zihui Huang
    • , Liangliang Shen
    •  & Guangye Han

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Phytoplankton account for a large proportion of global primary production and comprise a number of phylogenetically distinct lineages. Here, Uwizeye et al. use FIB-SEM to study ultrastructural plasticity of 7 distinct taxa and describe how subcellular organisation is linked to energy metabolism.

    • Clarisse Uwizeye
    • , Johan Decelle
    •  & Giovanni Finazzi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    LHCR proteins are ancient chlorophyll a-binding antennas that evolved in diverse algae of the red lineage. Here Lu et al. characterize a red lineage LHCR mutant and show reduced oxidative damage in high light but attenuated growth under low light, thus demonstrating how LHCR proteins impact the balance between photoprotection and light harvesting.

    • Yandu Lu
    • , Qinhua Gan
    •  & Krishna K. Niyogi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Evergreen conifers rely on ‘sustained quenching’ to protect their photosynthetic machinery during long, cold winters. Here, Bag et al. show that direct energy transfer (spillover) from photosystem II to photosystem I triggered by loss of grana stacking in chloroplast is the major component of sustained quenching in Scots pine.

    • Pushan Bag
    • , Volha Chukhutsina
    •  & Stefan Jansson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Introducing the pyrenoid-based CO2-concentrating mechanism of green algae into crops could greatly improve photosynthesis. Here, the authors show that expression of the algal linker protein EPYC1 and a plant-algal hybrid Rubisco in Arabidopsis chloroplasts leads to formation of a phase separated algal-like proto-pyrenoid.

    • Nicky Atkinson
    • , Yuwei Mao
    •  & Alistair J. McCormick

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photosynthetic formation of manganese (Mn) oxides from dissolved Mn ions was proposed to occur in ancestral photosystems before oxygenic photosynthesis evolved. Here, the authors provide evidence for this hypothesis by showing that photosystem II devoid of the Mn cluster oxidises Mn ions leading to formation of Mn-oxide nanoparticles.

    • Petko Chernev
    • , Sophie Fischer
    •  & Holger Dau

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The green component of the solar spectrum can efficiently drive natural photosynthesis, but the process has been little investigated due to the complexity of the excited states involved. Here the authors utilize polarization-dependent two-dimensional electronic-vibrational spectroscopy to define the origin and dynamics of these states in light-harvesting complex II.

    • Eric A. Arsenault
    • , Yusuke Yoneda
    •  & Graham R. Fleming

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The development of techniques capable of orchestrating the assembly of living cells into multicellular ensembles with synergistic and function is challenge. Here, the authors construct algal or algal/bacterial cells-based core shell-like structure based on aqueous two-phase system for synergic photosynthetic H2 production.

    • Zhijun Xu
    • , Shengliang Wang
    •  & Stephen Mann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cyanobacterial photosystem I has a highly conserved core antenna consisting of eleven subunits and more than 90 chlorophylls. Here via CryoEM and spectroscopy, the authors determine the location of a red-shifted low-energy chlorophyll that allows harvesting of longer wavelengths of light.

    • Hila Toporik
    • , Anton Khmelnitskiy
    •  & Yuval Mazor

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Diatoms are marine algae with an important role in global photosynthetic carbon fixation. Here, the authors present the 2.38 Å cryo-EM structure of photosystem I (PSI) in complex with its 24 fucoxanthin chlorophyll a/c-binding (FCPI) antenna proteins from the diatom Chaetoceros gracilis, which provides mechanistic insights into light-energy harvesting, transfer and quenching of the PSI-FCPI supercomplex.

    • Caizhe Xu
    • , Xiong Pi
    •  & Jian-Ren Shen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    One of the major photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes (LHCs) are fucoxanthin chlorophyll a/c-binding proteins (FCPs), which are present in diatoms, a major group of algae. Here, the authors present the cryo-EM structure of the photosystem I-FCP (PSI-FCPI) supercomplex isolated from the marine centric diatom Chaetoceros gracilis that contains 16 FCPI subunits surrounding the PSI core and discuss possible excitation energy transfer pathways.

    • Ryo Nagao
    • , Koji Kato
    •  & Fusamichi Akita

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Most chloroplast proteins are imported from the cytosol and thus transiently exposed to the cytosolic proteasome. Here the authors show that impairment of the cytosolic proteasome can elevate precursor protein abundance and photosynthetic activity suggesting that cytosolic protein turnover is a means to tune plastid function.

    • Julia Grimmer
    • , Stefan Helm
    •  & Sacha Baginsky

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The spectra of light used by photosynthetic organisms are determined by their pigmentation colour palettes. Here Liu et al. show that a genetically-encoded chimera of light-harvesting proteins from plants and reaction centres from purple bacteria allows for polychromatic solar energy harvesting.

    • Juntai Liu
    • , Vincent M. Friebe
    •  & Michael R. Jones

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Plants regulate chlorophyll levels to optimise photosynthesis. Here Wang et al. describe two paralogous thylakoid proteins, BCM1 and BCM2, which stimulate chlorophyll biosynthesis and attenuate chlorophyll degradation respectively through interaction with the Mg-chelatase-stimulating factor GUN4 and Mg-dechelatase isoform SGR1.

    • Peng Wang
    • , Andreas S. Richter
    •  & Bernhard Grimm

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The supramolecular organization of PSII-LHCII supercomplexes determines the plant thylakoid structure. Here, via structural mass spectrometry, Albanese et al. show how stroma-exposed N-termini of LHCII subunits, interacting with each other in adjacent membranes, can mediate membrane folding in grana stacks.

    • Pascal Albanese
    • , Sem Tamara
    •  & Cristina Pagliano

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Resolving the kinetics of energy dissipation during photosynthesis is challenging due to complex photophysics and the coexistence of multiple antenna proteins. Here Son et al. overcome this by applying ultrabroadband 2D spectroscopy to LHCII reconstituted in lipid nanodiscs, revealing mechanisms of dissipation enhanced by the membrane.

    • Minjung Son
    • , Alberta Pinnola
    •  & Gabriela S. Schlau-Cohen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    NDH-1 is a key component of the cyclic-electron-transfer around photosystem I pathway, an antioxidant mechanism for efficient photosynthesis. Here, authors report a cryo-EM structure of the ferredoxin (Fd)-NDH-1L complex from the cyanobacterium Thermosynechococcus elongatus.

    • Chunli Zhang
    • , Jin Shuai
    •  & Ming Lei

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chlorophyll f (Chl f) is the most red-shifted Chl in oxygenic photosynthesis but its localization in photosystem I (PSI) has been unknown so far. Here the authors determine the cryo-EM structures of PSI complexes from a Chl f-containing cyanobacterium grown either under white light or far-red light conditions and identify seven Chls f in the far-red light PSI structure, whereas PSI from cells grown under white light contains only Chl a.

    • Koji Kato
    • , Toshiyuki Shinoda
    •  & Tatsuya Tomo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chloroplasts are important for plant immunity against microbial pathogens. Here Xu et al. identify, in the wheat stripe rust fungus, a haustorium-specific protein that is translocated into chloroplasts and affects chloroplast function by interacting with a putative component of the plant cytochrome b6-f complex.

    • Qiang Xu
    • , Chunlei Tang
    •  & Xiaojie Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photosystem I (PSI) is embedded in thylakoid membranes of photosynthetic organisms, converting light energy into chemical energy, and its oligomeric state varies among different organisms. Here the authors present the 3.3 Å resolution cryo-EM structure of the PSI tetramer from the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC 7120.

    • Koji Kato
    • , Ryo Nagao
    •  & Fusamichi Akita

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photosynthetic organisms can dissipate excess absorbed light energy as heat to avoid photodamage. Here the authors show that induced thermal dissipation in the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum Pt4 is Lhcx protein-dependent and correlates with a reduced functional absorption cross-section of photosystem II.

    • Jochen M. Buck
    • , Jonathan Sherman
    •  & Bernard Lepetit

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In flowering plants, the CONSTANS (CO) and Nuclear Factor Y (NF-Y) transcription factors connect light perception to floral induction. Here Tokutsu et al. show that in the green alga Chlamydomonas, CO and NF-Y form an analogous complex that can prevent photodamage in response to excess light.

    • Ryutaro Tokutsu
    • , Konomi Fujimura-Kamada
    •  & Jun Minagawa

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Light initiates chloroplast biogenesis by controlling gene expression in plastids. Here Yoo et al. show that nuclear phytochrome signaling triggers plastid gene expression via a novel dual-localized protein necessary for nuclear phytochrome signaling and subsequent anterograde signaling to the plastid.

    • Chan Yul Yoo
    • , Elise K. Pasoreck
    •  & Meng Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Upon photoactivation the Orange Carotenoid Protein (OCP) binds to the phycobilisome and prevents damage by thermally dissipating excess energy. Here authors use an Anti-Brownian ELectrokinetic trap to determine the photophysics of single OCP-quenched phycobilisomes and observe two distinct OCP-quenched states with either one or two OCPs bound.

    • Allison H. Squires
    • , Peter D. Dahlberg
    •  & W. E. Moerner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The microalgal pyrenoid has been reported to behave as a phase-separated liquid compartment. Here the authors demonstrate that the CO2-fixing enzyme Rubisco and the linker protein EPYC1 are necessary and sufficient to bring about a liquid-liquid phase separation that recapitulates the pyrenoid’s liquid-like behavior.

    • Tobias Wunder
    • , Steven Le Hung Cheng
    •  & Oliver Mueller-Cajar

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cyanobacterial photoprotection is controlled by OCP and FRP proteins, but their dynamic interplay is not fully understood. Here, the authors combine protein engineering, disulfide trapping and structural analyses to provide mechanistic insights into the transient OCP-FRP interaction.

    • Nikolai N. Sluchanko
    • , Yury B. Slonimskiy
    •  & Eugene G. Maksimov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Previous efforts to assemble Rubisco within a cyanobacterial carboxysome-derived protein shell in plant chloroplasts to concentrate CO2 have been unsuccessful. Here, Long et al. produce carboxysomes in tobacco chloroplasts that encapsulate the introduced Rubisco and enable autotrophic growth at elevated CO2.

    • Benedict M. Long
    • , Wei Yih Hee
    •  & G. Dean Price

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photosystem I is a large multiprotein complex embedded in the chloroplast thylakoid membrane. Here the authors provide evidence for a modular assembly process, whereby Ycf3 facilitates assembly of the reaction center, while Ycf4 incorporates peripheral core and light harvesting complex subunits to the reaction center.

    • Sreedhar Nellaepalli
    • , Shin-Ichiro Ozawa
    •  & Yuichiro Takahashi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Water splitting during photosynthesis results in the combination of two oxygen atoms to form O2. Here, based on computational simulations, the authors develop a possible mechanism for this reaction, which is different from the mechanisms previous studies have suggested.

    • Keisuke Kawashima
    • , Tomohiro Takaoka
    •  & Hiroshi Ishikita

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Availability of irrigation water will be an increasing barrier to global crop yield increases. Here the authors show transgenic tobacco plants overexpressing Photosystem II Subunit S have less stomatal opening in response to light and a 25% reduction in water loss per CO2 assimilated under replicated field trials.

    • Katarzyna Głowacka
    • , Johannes Kromdijk
    •  & Stephen P. Long

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sunlight harvesting and redirection is a promising concept for sustainable energy conversion, however losses have hindered progress. Here the authors construct a simple biomimetic device which minimises losses by using reservoirs of randomly-oriented dyes to funnel energy onto individual emitting parallel acceptors.

    • Alexander Pieper
    • , Manuel Hohgardt
    •  & Peter Jomo Walla

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The supply of CO2 to large marine phytoplankton cells is potentially limited by their diffusive boundary layer. Here, using direct microelectrode measurements, the authors show that extracellular carbonic anhydrase acts to maintain the concentration of CO2 at the cell surface to overcome this problem.

    • Abdul Chrachri
    • , Brian M. Hopkinson
    •  & Glen L. Wheeler

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Carotenoids can dissipate excess energy captured by photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes to prevent photodamage. Here, via spectroscopic and in silico approaches, Liguori et al. resolve different carotenoid dark states and propose conformational changes that permit them to act as either energy donors or quenchers.

    • Nicoletta Liguori
    • , Pengqi Xu
    •  & Roberta Croce

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) is a metabolic adaptation of photosynthesis that enhances water use efficiency. Here, via genomic analysis of Kalanchoë, the authors provide evidence for convergent evolution of protein sequence and temporal gene expression underpinning the multiple independent emergences of CAM.

    • Xiaohan Yang
    • , Rongbin Hu
    •  & Gerald A. Tuskan

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