Light saturation response of inactive photosystem II reaction centers in spinach

The effective absorption cross section of inactive photosystem II (PS II) centers, which is the product of the effective antenna size and the quantum yield for photochemistry, was investigated by comparing the light saturation curves of inactive PS II and active reaction centers in intact chloroplasts and thylakoid membranes of spinach (Spinacia oleracea). Inactive PS II centers are defined as the impaired PS II reaction centers that require greater than 50 ms for the reoxidation of QA (-) subsequent to a single turnover flash. Active reaction centers are defined as the rapidly turning over PS II centers (recovery time less than 50 ms) and all of the PS I centers. The electrochromic shift, measured by the flash-induced absorbance increase at 518 nm, was used to probe the activity of the reaction centers. Light saturation curves were generated for inactive PS II centers and active reaction centers by measuring the extent of the absorbance increase at 518 nm induced by red actinic flashes of variable energy. The light saturation curves show that inactive PS II centers required over twice as many photons as active reaction centers to achieve the same yield. The ratio of the flash energy required for 50% saturation for active reaction centers (PS II active + PS I) compared to inactive PS II centers was 0.45±0.04 in intact chloroplasts, and 0.54±0.11 in thylakoid membranes. Analysis of the light saturation curves using a Poisson statistical model in which the ratio of the antenna size of active PS II centers to that of PS I is considered to range from 1 to 1.5, indicates that the effective absorption cross section of inactive PS II centers was 0.54-0.37 times that of active PS II centers. If the quantum yield for photochemistry is assumed to be one, we estimate that the antenna system serving the inactive PS II centers contains approx. 110 chlorophyll molecules.