RAPID RECOVERY OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS FROM PHOTOINHIBITION IS RELATED TO FATTY ACID UNSATURATION OF CHLOROPLAST MEMBRANE LIPIDS IN CHILLING-RESISTANT PLANTS

The susceptibility of chilling-resistant spinach plants. and of chilling-sensitive squash plants to photoinhibition was compared in terms of the activity of photosystem II, in relation to the deuce of fatty acid unsaturation of chloroplast membrane lipids. From thylakoid membranes of the plants. monogalactosyl diacylgtycerol, digalactosyl diacylglycerol. sulfoquinovosyt diacylglycerol, and phosphatidylglycerol were seperated as major lipid classes. It was found that the content of cis-unsaturated fatty acids of phosphatidylglycerol was greater by 32% in spinach than that in squash. When leaf disks were exposed to light at 5$\circ$C, 15$\circ$C and 25$\circ$C, photochemical efficiency of photosystem II. measured as the ratio of the variable to the maximum fluorescence of chlorophyll, declined markedly in squash plants, as compared to spinach plants. When leaf disks were exposed to strong light in the presence of lincomycin, an inhibitor of protein synthesis in chloroplasts, photoinhibition was accelerated in the two types of plants. Moreover, lincomycin treatment abolished the differences in the degree of susceptibility to strong light, which had been observed between the two types of plants. When the extent of photoinhibition of photosystem II-mediated electron transport was compared in thylakoid membranes isolated from the two types of plants, there were no differences in the degree of inactivation of photosystem II activity. However, when intact leaf disks were exposed to strong light either at 10$\circ$C or at 25$\circ$C, and then were allowed to recover either at 17$\circ$C or at 25$\circ$C in dim light. chilling-resistant plants such as spinach and pea showed marked recovery from photoinhibition, in contrast to chilling-sensitive plants, such as squash and sweet potato. whose recovery was strongly dependent on the temperature. These findings are discussed in relation to the unsaturation of fatty acids in membrane phosphatidylglycerol. It appears that fatty acid unsaturation of membrane lipids accelerates the recovery of photosystem H from photoinhibition, without affecting the photo-induced inactivation process of photosystem II associated with photoinhibition.