Chilling Tolerance of Photosynthesis in Plants is Dependent on the Capacity to Enhance the Levels of the Xanthophyll Cycle Pigments in Response to Cold Stress

Plants possess the ability to dissipate the excitation energy for the protection of photosynthetic apparatus from absorbed excess light. Heat dissipation is regulated by xanthophyll cycle in thylakoid membranes of chloroplasts. We investigated the mechanistic aspects of xanthophyll cycle-dependent photoprotection against low-temperature photoinhibition in plants. Using barley and rice as chilling-resistant species and sensitive ones, respectively, chilling-induced chlorophyll fluorescence quenching, composition of xanthophyll cycle pigments and mRNA expression of the zeaxanthin epoxidase were examined. Chilled barley plants exhibited little changes in chlorophyll fluorescence quenching either of photochemical or non-photochemical nature and in the photosynthetic electron transport, indicating low reduction state of PS II primary electron acceptor. In contrast to the barley, chilled rice showed a marked decline in those parameters mentioned above, indicating the increased reduction state of PS II primary electron acceptor. In addition, barley plants were shown to have a higher capacity to elevate the pool size of xanthophyll cycle pigments in response to cold stress compared to rice plants. Such species-dependent regulation of xanthophyll cycle activity was correlated with the gene expression level of cold-induced zeaxanthin epoxidase. Chilled rice plants depressed the gene expression of zeaxanthin epoxidase, whereas barley increased its expression in response to cold stress. We suggest that chilling-induced alterations in the pool size of xanthophyll cycle pigments related to its capacity would play an important role in regulating plant's sensitivity to chilling stress.