Project description
Understanding how light-harvesting complexes regulate NPQ
Photosynthesis turns sunlight into energy, but too much light can be harmful. Organisms use non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) to dissipate excess energy. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii uses the LHCSR protein, whereas Arabidopsis thaliana relies on PSBS and zeaxanthin, demonstrating distinct environmental adaptations. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the PhyscoQ project will investigate the role of light-harvesting complexes (LHCs) in NPQ in the moss Physcomitrium patens. This model organism, located between green algae and land plants, is ideal due to its short life cycle and high genomic editing efficiency. The project will analyse how LHC composition affects NPQ by examining LHCBM accumulation and NPQ activation under different light conditions.
Objective
Photosynthesis powers life on Earth by capturing solar energy and converting it into chemical energy to fuel carbon fixation. However, when metabolic pathways cannot utilize all produced energy, sunlight becomes damaging. Light capture is performed by pigment-binding proteins known as Light-Harvesting Complexes (LHCs) which optimize absorption but also increase the risk of photodamage under high light conditions. To avoid this, photosynthetic organisms evolved non-photochemical quenching (NPQ), a protective mechanism that dissipates excess absorbed energy as heat.
While NPQ is conserved across lineages, its molecular players differ substantially. In the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, NPQ depends on the stress-related protein LHCSR and a specific LHC subunit, LHCBM1. In contrast, land plants like Arabidopsis thaliana rely on the PSBS protein and the xanthophyll zeaxanthin, without requiring a specific LHC subunit, although quenching occurs in the LHC. These differences suggest that the role of antenna complexes in NPQ evolved during the transition from aquatic to terrestrial environments.
This project investigates the contribution of LHCs to NPQ using the moss Physcomitrium patens, which is an excellent model organism because of its evolutionary position between green algae and land plants and its retention of both LHCSR- and PSBS-dependent NPQ mechanisms.
Taking advantage of the unique characteristics of P. patens (short life cycle, dominant haploid phase and high efficiency of genomic editing), we will integrate genetic approaches with advanced spectroscopic techniques to investigate how LHC composition affects NPQ. Initially, changes in LHCBMs accumulation and NPQ activation will be assessed under different light conditions. Then, the most promising LHC subunits will be systematically removed in WT, PSBS- and LHCSR-deficient backgrounds, allowing us to dissect their individual roles and provide evolutionary insight into how NPQ mechanisms have diversified.
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- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels renewable energy solar energy
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology phycology
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins
- natural sciences biological sciences botany
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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1081 HV Amsterdam
Netherlands
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