Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Photoreceptors and Plant Responses to Light02:00

Photoreceptors and Plant Responses to Light

28.8K
Light plays a significant role in regulating the growth and development of plants. In addition to providing energy for photosynthesis, light provides other important cues to regulate a range of developmental and physiological responses in plants.
28.8K
Light Acquisition02:16

Light Acquisition

9.8K
In order to produce glucose, plants need to capture sufficient light energy. Many modern plants have evolved leaves specialized for light acquisition. Leaves can be only millimeters in width or tens of meters wide, depending on the environment. Due to competition for sunlight, evolution has driven the evolution of increasingly larger leaves and taller plants, to avoid shading by their neighbors with contaminant elaboration of root architecture and mechanisms to transport water and nutrients.
9.8K
The Antenna Complex01:15

The Antenna Complex

8.5K
Plants and other photosynthetic organisms comprise pigments capable of absorption of direct sunlight. These pigments are present in the reaction center - the main site of photochemical reactions as well as in the antenna complex. Under average light conditions, the rate at which reaction center pigments absorb light is far below the electron transport chain's capacity. As a result, the reaction center alone cannot provide enough energy to drive photosynthesis. The photosynthetic efficiency can...
8.5K

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Size-dependent fluorescence kinetics reveal contributions of intrinsic quenching and singlet-triplet annihilation during LHCII aggregation.

Biochimica et biophysica acta. Bioenergetics·2026
Same author

Ultrafast charge dynamics of diketopyrrolopyrrole-based terpolymers for optoelectronic applications: impact of acceptor concentrations and thermal annealing.

Nanoscale·2026
Same author

Objective clustering protocol for single-molecule data: A lifetime vs. intensity study.

Biophysical reports·2026
Same author

Therapeutic Switching of Metformin Using Heteroleptic Cu(II) and Zn(II) Complexes: A Combined Experimental and Computational Study.

ACS omega·2026
Same author

Two-Photon-Driven Photoprotection Mechanism in Echinenone-Functionalized Orange Carotenoid Protein.

Journal of the American Chemical Society·2025
Same author

<i>Biophysical Reviews'</i> "Meet the IUPAB councillor series": a brief profile of Tjaart P. J. Krüger.

Biophysical reviews·2024
Same journal

Switching Site Selectivity in Alkoxyamine Hydration: From Lone-Pair Direction to Solvent Network Dominance.

Journal of the American Chemical Society·2026
Same journal

A Topotactic Leap: 2D Layers to 3D Large-Pore Zeolite.

Journal of the American Chemical Society·2026
Same journal

Enhanced Hydrogen Evolution over Single-Atom Catalysts via Electrostatic Polarization in Contact-electro-catalysis.

Journal of the American Chemical Society·2026
Same journal

Tumor Acidity-Activatable Ionizable Lipid Nanoparticles for Selective Oncolytic Therapy.

Journal of the American Chemical Society·2026
Same journal

Alternating Magnetic Field Promotes Ammonia Cracking by Disrupting the Sabatier Limitation of Ruthenium Catalytic Species.

Journal of the American Chemical Society·2026
Same journal

Bulk Ferromagnetic Icosahedral Quasicrystals without Rapid Quenching.

Journal of the American Chemical Society·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 16, 2026

Building a Simple and Versatile Illumination System for Optogenetic Experiments
06:41

Building a Simple and Versatile Illumination System for Optogenetic Experiments

Published on: January 12, 2021

4.5K

Controlling Light Harvesting with Light.

Michal Gwizdala1, Rudi Berera2, Diana Kirilovsky3,4

  • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, VU Amsterdam , 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Journal of the American Chemical Society
|August 23, 2016
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Cyanobacteria rapidly switch light-harvesting phycobilisomes into energy-dissipating states, preventing photodamage. This novel photoprotection mechanism involves fluorescence blinking and protects against intense sunlight.

More Related Videos

Light-Controlled Fermentations for Microbial Chemical and Protein Production
08:37

Light-Controlled Fermentations for Microbial Chemical and Protein Production

Published on: March 22, 2022

4.8K
Reliably Engineering and Controlling Stable Optogenetic Gene Circuits in Mammalian Cells
09:20

Reliably Engineering and Controlling Stable Optogenetic Gene Circuits in Mammalian Cells

Published on: July 6, 2021

2.9K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Mar 16, 2026

Building a Simple and Versatile Illumination System for Optogenetic Experiments
06:41

Building a Simple and Versatile Illumination System for Optogenetic Experiments

Published on: January 12, 2021

4.5K
Light-Controlled Fermentations for Microbial Chemical and Protein Production
08:37

Light-Controlled Fermentations for Microbial Chemical and Protein Production

Published on: March 22, 2022

4.8K
Reliably Engineering and Controlling Stable Optogenetic Gene Circuits in Mammalian Cells
09:20

Reliably Engineering and Controlling Stable Optogenetic Gene Circuits in Mammalian Cells

Published on: July 6, 2021

2.9K

Area of Science:

  • Photosynthesis research
  • Photoprotection mechanisms
  • Cyanobacterial physiology

Background:

  • Oxygenic photosynthesis requires photoprotective strategies against intense sunlight.
  • Light-harvesting pigment-protein antennae have rapid photoprotective mechanisms.
  • Light intensity fluctuations occur on short timescales.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate rapid, reversible photoprotective mechanisms in cyanobacterial phycobilisomes.
  • To understand how phycobilisomes respond to light intensity fluctuations.
  • To provide evidence for a novel photoprotection strategy in cyanobacteria.

Main Methods:

  • Simultaneous measurement of fluorescence intensity, lifetime, and spectra.
  • Utilizing a multicompartmental kinetic model.
  • Studying phycobilisomes from Synechocystis PCC 6803.

Main Results:

  • Individual phycobilisomes can rapidly switch to energy-dissipating states.
  • Any phycobilisome subunit can be quenched, with core complexes targeted most frequently.
  • First evidence of fluorescence blinking in a biologically active system at physiological light intensities.

Conclusions:

  • Light-controlled switches to energy-dissipating states represent a novel photoprotection strategy in cyanobacteria.
  • This mechanism allows instant response to rapid solar light intensity fluctuations.
  • Similar strategies may be employed by other photosynthetic organisms and are relevant for bioinspired solar energy technologies.