Photosystem II Subunit PsbS Is Involved in the Induction of LHCSR Protein-dependent Energy Dissipation in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Non-photochemical quenching of excess excitation energy is an important photoprotective mechanism in photosynthetic organisms. In Arabidopsis thaliana, a high quenching capacity is constitutively present and depends on the PsbS protein. In the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, non-photochemical quenching becomes activated upon high light acclimation and requires the accumulation of light harvesting complex stress-related (LHCSR) proteins. Expression of the PsbS protein in C. reinhardtii has not been reported yet. Here, we show that PsbS is a light-induced protein in C. reinhardtii, whose accumulation under high light is further controlled by CO2 availability. PsbS accumulated after several hours of high light illumination at low CO2. At high CO2, however, PsbS was only transiently expressed under high light and was degraded after 1 h of high light exposure. PsbS accumulation correlated with an enhanced non-photochemical quenching capacity in high light-acclimated cells grown at low CO2. However, PsbS could not compensate for the function of LHCSR in an LHCSR-deficient mutant. Knockdown of PsbS accumulation led to reduction of both non-photochemical quenching capacity and LHCSR3 accumulation. Our data suggest that PsbS is essential for the activation of non-photochemical quenching in C. reinhardtii, possibly by promoting conformational changes required for activation of LHCSR3-dependent quenching in the antenna of photosystem II.