An Arabidopsis mutant with high operating efficiency of Photosystem II and low chlorophyll fluorescence

作者：van Tol Niels; Rolloos Martijn; Augustijn Dieuwertje; Alia A; de Groot Huub J; Hooykaas Paul J J; van der Zaal Bert J^*

来源：Scientific Reports, 2017, 7(1): 3314.

DOI：10.1038/s41598-017-03611-1

The overall light energy to biomass conversion efficiency of plant photosynthesis is generally regarded as low. Forward genetic screens in Arabidopsis have yielded very few mutants with substantially enhanced photochemistry. Here, we report the isolation of a novel Arabidopsis mutant with a high operating efficiency of Photosystem II (phi PSII) and low chlorophyll fluorescence from a library of lines harboring T-DNA constructs encoding artificial transcription factors. This mutant was named Low Chlorophyll Fluorescence 1 (LCF1). Only a single T-DNA insertion was detected in LCF1, which interrupted the expression of the full length mRNA of the gene At4g36280 (MORC2). We demonstrate that the high phi PSII and low levels of chlorophyll fluorescence were due to a decrease in PSII: PSI ratio. Although LCF1 plants had decreased rosette surface area and biomass under normal growth conditions, they contained more starch per gram fresh weight. The growth defect of LCF1 was alleviated by low light and short day conditions, and growth could even be enhanced after a period of dark-induced senescence, showing that the plant can utilize its excess photosynthetic conversion capacity as a resource when needed.

• 出版日期2017-6-12