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Toxic effects of antimony on photosystem II of Synechocystis sp. as probed by in vivo chlorophyll fluorescence

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Abstract

It has been demonstrated that antimony (Sb) at concentrations ranging from 1.0 to 10.0 mg L−1 inhibits O2 evolution. Deeper insight into the influence of Sb on PSII was obtained with measurements of in vivo chlorophyll fluorescence. The donor and the acceptor sides of PSII were shown to be the target of Sb. Sb treatment induces inhibition of electron transport from Q −A to QB/Q −B and accumulation of P +680 . S2(QAQB)− charge recombination and oxidation by PQ9 molecules became more important in Q −A reoxidation as the electron transfer in PSII was inhibited. Sb exposure caused a steady increase in the proportion of PSIIX and PSIIβ. These changes resulted in increased fluxes of dissipated energy and decreased index of photosynthesis performance, of maximum quantum yield, and of the overall photosynthetic driving force of PSII.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Knowledge Innovation Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX2-YW-335 and KZCX2-YW-135), Program of 100 Distinguished Young Scientists of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Natural Science Foundation of China (40673070, 40872169) and 863 program project 2006AA06Z339 from MOST of China. We are grateful to the editor and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang, Guizhou, 550002, China

    Daoyong Zhang

  2. Key Laboratory of Biogeography and Bioresource in Arid Land, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, Xinjiang, 830011, China

    Xiangliang Pan & Guijin Mu

  3. Institute of Nuclear Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100083, China

    Jianlong Wang

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  1. Daoyong Zhang
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Correspondence to Xiangliang Pan.

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Zhang, D., Pan, X., Mu, G. et al. Toxic effects of antimony on photosystem II of Synechocystis sp. as probed by in vivo chlorophyll fluorescence. J Appl Phycol 22, 479–488 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-009-9482-1

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