Journal article

Publication year: 2008

Pages: 206-215

Journal: Plant Physiology

Volume number: 147

Issue number: 1

ISSN: 0032-0889

eISSN: 1532-2548

Open access status: Hybrid

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.108.117218

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Abstract: 
Ammonia has long been known to be toxic for many photosynthetic organisms; however, the target for its toxicity remains elusive. Here, we show that in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803, ammonia triggers a rapid photodamage of photosystem II (PSII). Whereas wild-type cells can cope with this damage by turning on the FtsH2-dependent PSII repair cycle, the FtsH2-deficient mutant is highly sensitive and loses PSII activity at millimolar concentration of ammonia. Ammonia-triggered PSII destruction is light dependent and occurs already at low photon fluence rates. Experiments with monochromatic light showed that ammonia-promoted PSII photoinhibition is executed by wavebands known to directly destroy the manganese cluster in the PSII oxygen-evolving complex, suggesting that the oxygen-evolving complex may be a direct target for ammonia toxicity.

Harvard Citation style: Drath, M., Kloft, N., Batschauer, A., Marin, K., Novak, J. and Forchhammer, K. (2008) Ammonia triggers photodamage of photosystem II in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp strain PCC 6803, Plant Physiology, 147(1), pp. 206-215. https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.108.117218

APA Citation style: Drath, M., Kloft, N., Batschauer, A., Marin, K., Novak, J., & Forchhammer, K. (2008). Ammonia triggers photodamage of photosystem II in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp strain PCC 6803. Plant Physiology. 147(1), 206-215. https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.108.117218