• Energy Research

In plant chloroplasts, the two photosystems (PSII and PSI) are enriched in different thylakoid domains and, according to the established view, are regarded as energetically segregated from each other. A specific fraction of the light harvesting complex II (LHCII) has been postulated to get phosphorylated by the STN7 kinase and subsequently to migrate from PSII to PSI as part of a process called 'state transition'. Nevertheless, the thylakoid membrane incorporates a large excess of LHCII not present in the isolatable PSII-LHCII and PSI-LHCII complexes. Moreover, LHCII phosphorylation is not limited to a specific LHCII pool and "state 2" condition, but is found in all thylakoid domains in any constant light condition. Here, using a targeted solubilization of pigment-protein complexes from different thylakoid domains, we demonstrate that even a minor detachment of LHCII leads to markedly increased fluorescence emission from LHCII and PSII both in grana core and non-appressed thylakoid membranes and the effect of the detergent to detach LHCII is enhanced in the absence of LHCII phosphorylation. These findings provide evidence that PSII and PSI are energy traps embedded in the same energetically connected LHCII lake. In the lake, PSI and LHCII are energetically connected even in the absence of LHCII phosphorylation, yet the phosphorylation enhances the interaction required for efficient energy transfer to PSI in the grana margin regions.

Ethylene is a volatile alkene which is used in large commercial scale as a precursor in plastic industry, and is currently derived from petroleum refinement. As an alternative production strategy, photoautotrophic cyanobacteria Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 and Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 have been previously evaluated as potential biotechnological hosts for producing ethylene directly from CO2, by the over-expression of ethylene forming enzyme (efe) from Pseudomonas syringae. This work addresses various open questions related to the use of Synechococcus as the engineering target, and demonstrates long-term ethylene production at rates reaching 140 µL L-1 h-1 OD750-1 without loss of host vitality or capacity to produce ethylene. The results imply that the genetic instability observed earlier may be associated with the expression strategies, rather than efe over-expression, ethylene toxicity or the depletion of 2-oxoglutarate-derived cellular precursors in Synechococcus. In context with literature, this study underlines the critical differences in expression system design in the alternative hosts, and confirms Synechococcus as a suitable parallel host for further engineering.

Roadmaps towards sustainable bioeconomy, including the production of biofuels, in many EU countries mostly rely on biomass use. However, although biomass is renewable, the efficiency of biomass production is too low to be able to fully replace the fossil fuels. The use of land for fuel production also introduces ethical problems in increasing the food price. Harvesting solar energy by the photosynthetic machinery of plants and autotrophic microorganisms is the basis for all biomass production. This paper describes current challenges and possibilities to sustainably increase the biomass production and highlights future technologies to further enhance biofuel production directly from sunlight. The biggest scientific breakthroughs are expected to rely on a new technology called "synthetic biology", which makes engineering of biological systems possible. It will enable direct conversion of solar energy to a fuel from inexhaustible raw materials: sun light, water and CO2. In the future, such solar biofuels are expected to be produced in engineered photosynthetic microorganisms or in completely synthetic living factories.

Significance During overwintering, evergreen conifers of boreal forests must cope with freezing temperatures and high light intensities that often occur simultaneously and expose the photosynthetic apparatus to oxidative damage. To mitigate damage, conifers have developed a specific photoprotection mechanism, called sustained nonphotochemical quenching (sustained NPQ). Here we provide evidence for involvement of unique posttranslational phosphorylations of thylakoid proteins in sustained NPQ of spruce. The triply phosphorylated LHCB1 isoform and phospho-PSBS protein appear as prerequisites for development of sustained NPQ that safely dissipate absorbed light energy as heat. While the induction of Lhcb1 triple phosphorylation requires only freezing temperatures, the triggering of sustained NPQ is additionally dependent on light-induced PSBS phosphorylation, likely in concert with limited photoinhibition of photosystem II.

SummaryThe oxygen‐evolving complex of eukaryotic photosystem II (PSII) consists of four extrinsic subunits, PsbO (33 kDa), PsbP (23 kDa), PsbQ (17 kDa) and PsbR (10 kDa), encoded by seven nuclear genes, PsbO1 (At5g66570), PsbO2 (At3g50820), PsbP1 (At1g06680), PsbP2 (At2g30790), PsbQ1 (At4g21280), PsbQ2 (At4g05180) and PsbR (At1g79040). Using Arabidopsis insertion mutant lines, we show that PsbP1, but not PsbP2, is essential for photoautotrophic growth, whereas plants lacking both forms of PsbQ and/or PsbR show normal growth rates. Complete elimination of PsbQ has a minor effect on PSII function, but plants lacking PsbR or both PsbR and PsbQ are characterized by more pronounced defects in PSII activity. Gene expression and immunoblot analyses indicate that accumulation of each of these proteins is highly dependent on the presence of the others, and is controlled at the post‐transcriptional level, whereas PsbO stability appears to be less sensitive to depletion of other subunits of the oxygen‐evolving complex. In addition, comparison of levels of the PSII super‐complex in wild‐type and mutant leaves reveals the importance of the individual subunits of the oxygen‐evolving complex for the supramolecular organization of PSII and their influence on the rate of state transitions.

AbstractThe value and efficiency of microalgal biofuel production can be improved in an integrated system using waste streams as feed-stock, with fuel-rich biomass and treated wastewater being key end-products. We have evaluated seven native cyanobacterial isolates and one native green alga for their nutrient removal, biomass accumulation and lipid production capacities. All native isolates were successfully grown on synthetic wastewater mimicking secondary treated municipal wastewater (without organic carbon). Complete phosphate removal was achieved by the native green alga, isolated from Tvärminne (SW Finland). Optimisation of the C:N ratio available to this strain was achieved by addition of 3% CO2 and resulted in complete ammonium removal in synthetic wastewater. The native green alga demonstrated similar nutrient removal rates and even stronger growth in screened municipal wastewater, which had double the ammonium concentration of the synthetic media and also contained organic carbon. Sequencing of the genes coding for 18S small rRNA subunit and the ITS1 spacer region of this alga placed it in the Scenedesmaceae family. The lipid content of native isolates was evaluated using BODIPY (505/515) staining combined with high-throughput flow cytometry, where the native green alga demonstrated significantly greater neutral lipid accumulation than the cyanobacteria under the conditions studied.