Investigate and understand the factors that affect the kinetics of NPQ induction and recovery
Final Report Abstract
During my project I characterized natural and induced variations of photoprotective mechanisms of land plants with the long-term goal to transfer gained knowledge to crop plants. The investigation comprised the role of the carotenoid antheraxanthin in a process called non-photochemical quenching (NPQ). I successfully generated stably antheraxanthin-accumulating plants and demonstrated the ability of antheraxanthin to contribute to NPQ (Aim I). Next, the effect of a modified xanthophyll cycle, mainly accumulating antheraxanthin under high light conditions on land plants, was investigated. The engineered violaxanthin-antheraxanthin cycle revealed some contradictory results that need to be addressed in future experiments (Aim II and III). I further started to identify and characterize naturally occurring variations of NPQ in land plants by applying an unbiased NPQ screen in the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden. These field trips revealed some promising candidate plants with modified NPQ traits that need further investigation (Aim IV). Finally, I started to modify the established pVPZ construct, which lead to enhanced relaxation of NPQ and thereby to increased photosynthetic efficiency, with variations of each gene to potentially optimize this construct (Aim V).
