Light harvesting in higher plants and green algae

2018 ◽  
pp. 59-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. E. Hotchkiss ◽  
A. T. Hotchkiss ◽  
R. P. Apkarian

Multicellular green algae may be an ancestral form of the vascular plants. These algae exhibit cell wall structure, chlorophyll pigmentation, and physiological processes similar to those of higher plants. The presence of a vascular system which provides water, minerals, and nutrients to remote tissues in higher plants was believed unnecessary for the algae. Among the green algae, the Chaetophorales are complex highly branched forms that might require some means of nutrient transport. The Chaetophorales do possess apical meristematic groups of cells that have growth orientations suggestive of stem and root positions. Branches of Chaetophora incressata were examined by the scanning electron microscope (SEM) for ultrastructural evidence of pro-vascular transport.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sayan Maity ◽  
Vangelis Daskalakis ◽  
Marcus Elstner ◽  
Ulrich Kleinekathöfer

Photosynthetic processes are driven by sunlight. Too little of it and the photosynthetic machinery cannot produce the reductive power to drive the anabolic pathways. Too much sunlight and the machinery can get damaged. In higher plants, the major Light Harvesting Complex (LHCII) efficiently absorbs the light energy, but can also dissipate it when in excess (quenching). In order to study the dynamics related to the quenching process but also the exciton dynamics in general, one needs to accurately determine the so-called spectral density which describes the coupling between the relevant pigment modes and the environmental degrees of freedom. To this end, Born–Oppenheimer molecular dynamics simulations in a quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) fashion utilizing the density functional based tight binding (DFTB) method have been performed for the ground state dynamics. Subsequently, the time-dependent extension of the long-range-corrected DFTB scheme has been employed for the excited state calculations of the individual chlorophyll-a molecules in the LHCII complex. The analysis of this data resulted in spectral densities showing an astonishing agreement with the experimental counterpart in this rather large system. This consistency with an experimental observable also supports the accuracy, robustness, and reliability of the present multi-scale scheme. In addition, the resulting spectral densities and site energies were used to determine the exciton transfer rate within a special pigment pair consisting of a chlorophyll-a and a carotenoid molecule which is assumed to play a role in the balance between the light harvesting and quenching modes.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1065-1069 ◽  
pp. 114-118
Author(s):  
Shuo Fu Tian ◽  
Chao Jin Lu ◽  
Yuan Wang

It is the components, living things evolution processes, development environments, distribution layers and the earliest time for coal series formation that are investigated and studied in detail based on the author’s graduation thesis, the “Geobiology” , the “China coal petrology” and the other’s some references in this paper. And it is considered that mainly two types of the Coal Series might be distinguish in the geologic history in China, respectively consisted of the lower organisms (especially the lower plants, blue-green algae) and higher organisms (especially the higher plants, pteridophyta, gymnosperms, Anthophyta). Meanwhile, the conclusions can be drawn that the development of the organisms is not only controlled by the environments, on the other hand, the environments and their sediments are also affected by the ecologies of the organisms. So the coal bed or coal series can be used as the marks of the environment explanation, perhaps having some Significances of Geobiology. In additional, the relationship with an unconformity or disconformity is discussed here, too.


1998 ◽  
Vol 53 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 1017-1026 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Kiinne ◽  
E. Pistorius ◽  
K. Kloppstech ◽  
E. de Groot

Abstract Two proteins with apparent molecular masses of 17 and 24 kD that are synthesized in a circadian manner in the phytoflagellate Euglena gracilis, were recognized as proteins belong­ing to the family of light-harvesting-chlorophyll-proteins (LHCPs) of class I (17 kD) and of class II (24 kD). Identification was achieved by N-terminal sequencing of the proteins isolated from two-dimensional polyacrylamide gels and by detection with an anti-LHCP II se­rum. While it was found that the total amount of LHCPs remains almost constant, when Euglena is grown under diurnal conditions (12 h light and 12 h dark), we could show that the amount of newly synthesized 17 and 24 kD proteins varies about 20-fold with a maximum of synthesis in the light phase. In contrast, the analysis of the mRNA levels at different times revealed only minor differences in the stationary concentration of the LHCP specific mRNA, indicating that the control of LHCP synthesis is at the translational level. Principally, the same finding was obtained using inhibitors of transcription. Thus, it is concluded that the expression of LHCPs in Euglena gracilis in contrast to that of higher plants is primarily regulated at the translational level.


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