Effect of aggregation state, temperature and phospholipids on photobleaching of photosynthetic pigments in spinach Photosystem II core complexes

Photosystem II (PSII) complex activity is known to decrease under strong white light illumination, and this photoinhibition phenomenon is connected to the photobleaching of the PSII photosynthetic pigments. In this work the pigment photobleaching has been studied on PSII core complexes, by observing the effects of different factors such as the aggregation state (PSII monomers and dimers were used), temperature (20 °C and 10 °C temperatures were tested) and the presence of the exogenous phospholipids (cardiolipin and phosphatidylglycerol). In particular, PSII resistance against white light stress was studied by means of UV/VIS Absorption and Fluorescence Emission measurements. It was found that PSII dimers resulted more resistant against photobleaching and that lower temperature reduces the pigment photodestruction. Moreover, the presence of phosphatidylglycerol or cardiolipin enhanced the PSII resistance to the photobleaching phenomenon, mainly at lower temperatures.