Photosystem I inhibition by polycations

Surface-charge related actions of polylysine on thylakoid membranes

Polycation binding to the negatively charged surface of chloroplast thylakoid membranes is known to cause an inhibition of photosystem I activity. It also interferes with the cation-dependent rearrangement of chlorophyll proteins in the thylakoid membrane. It was shown that added anions prevented or reversed the inhibition of photosystem I by polylysine without decreasing its binding to the membranes. Anions also caused a change in the interaction of the chlorophyll proteins in polylysine-treated thylakoids as indicated by an increase in the relative fluorescence intensity from photosystem II. In both cases, the relative effectiveness of the anions tested depended on their valence; for example, the tetravalent species Fe(CN)4-(6) was effective at concentration at least 2 orders of magnitude lower than the divalent species SO2-(4). These results suggest that anions act by screening the positive charge of the polylysine-coated membrane surface. Measurements of the response of the anionic fluorescent probe 1-anilinonapthalene-8-sulfonate to an addition of anions to polylysine-treated thylakoids supported this contention. It was concluded that the action of polylysine on photosystem I and on the chlorophyll proteins is mediated by changes of the electrical properties of the thylakoid membrane and may not involve a direct binding of the polycation to the affected membrane proteins.

Further results on the photoactive chlorophyll aII in photosynthesis

1. The flash-induced difference spectra of chlorophyll aII in untreated and in heat-treated spinach chloroplasts are presented. 2. Heat-treatment leads to an increase of the half-life of the chlorophyll aII absorbance changes. After the addition of hydroquinone plus sodium ascorbate the half-life of the chlorophyll aII reaction returns nearly to the value in untreated chloroplasts. 3. In digitonin-treated chloroplasts, or in the presence of histone, the chlorophyll aII activity is low when the electron acceptor is benzylviologen and high when ferricyanide is used. 4. The half-life of the chlorophyll aII reaction depends on the temperature of the reaction mixture. The activation energy of the chlorophyll aII reaction is about 7.5 kcal/mol. 5. From the experimental results we conclude that in heat-treated (and in Tris-washed and aged) chloroplasts the linear electron flow in Photosystem II is replaced by a cyclic one, which is sensitive to 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea.