Trends in Plant Science
Isoprenoids: an evolutionary pool for photoprotection
Section snippets
Plant isoprenoids
The advent of photosynthesis was a central event in the early development of life on Earth. Put succinctly, photosynthesis is the harnessing of solar energy and its conversion into chemical energy and, as with other natural light processors such as the human eye, this would have not been possible without a mechanism to dissipate excess excitation energy in a harmless way. Thus, photosynthesis operates with a constantly shifting balance between the efficient capture of solar energy and the quick
Conserved mechanisms of photoprotection
In spite of the enormous diversity in the evolution, form and function of photosynthetic organisms, some aspects of photoprotection are remarkably constant. Several carotenoids and tocopherols, which appeared early on in evolutionary history and are present in all photosynthetic organisms, exemplify this point. Both these groups of compounds cooperate in the protection of photosynthetic membranes and represent the most biologically significant safety valves for the harmless dissipation of
Additional and/or alternative mechanisms of photoprotection
Apart from the above-mentioned carotenoids and tocopherols, recent data also indicate a photoprotective role for other isoprenoids in several plant taxa, thus highlighting the plasticity of photoprotection conferred by isoprenoids. Non-ubiquitous and taxonomically restricted carotenoids also exist: for example, red carotenoids (eschscholtzxanthin and anhydroeschscholtzxanthin) occur rarely and might have a photoprotective role during winter. Although the exact protective mechanisms of these
Conclusions and future prospects
Among isoprenoids, the carotenoids β-carotene and zeaxanthin, and the tocopherols represent well-conserved mechanisms of photoprotection. In all photosynthetic organisms, they serve an important photoprotective role, either by dissipating excess excitation energy as heat or by scavenging ROS and suppressing lipid peroxidation. Although protection by other isoprenoids might operate just in some plant families or even only in a particular species, it has been shown that they can also perform an
Acknowledgements
We thank Sue Owen and Iolanda Filella for insight and comments on the manuscript. This research was partly supported by grants REN2003–04871 and CGL2004–01402/BOS from the Spanish Government, and ISONET (Marie Curie network contract MC-RTN-CT-2003–504720) from the European Union.
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