Investigation on absorption cross-section of photosynthetic pigment molecules based on a mechanistic model of the photosynthetic electron flow-light response in C(3), C(4) species and cyanobacteria grown under various conditions

Investigation on intrinsic properties of photosynthetic pigment molecules participating in solar energy absorption and excitation, especially their eigen-absorption cross-section (σ (ik)) and effective absorption cross-section (σ (′) (ik)), is important to understand photosynthesis. Here, we present the development and application of a new method to determine these parameters, based on a mechanistic model of the photosynthetic electron flow-light response. The analysis with our method of a series of previously collected chlorophyll a fluorescence data shows that the absorption cross-section of photosynthetic pigment molecules has different values of approximately 10(−21) m(2), for several photosynthetic organisms grown under various conditions: (1) the conifer Abies alba Mill., grown under high light or low light; (2) Taxus baccata L., grown under fertilization or non-fertilization conditions; (3) Glycine max L. (Merr.), grown under a CO(2) concentration of 400 or 600 μmol CO(2) mol(−1) in a leaf chamber under shaded conditions; (4) Zea mays L., at temperatures of 30°C or 35°C in a leaf chamber; (5) Osmanthus fragrans Loureiro, with shaded-leaf or sun-leaf; and (6) the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa FACHB905, grown under two different nitrogen supplies. Our results show that σ (ik) has the same order of magnitude (approximately 10(−21) m(2)), and σ (′) (ik) for these species decreases with increasing light intensity, demonstrating the operation of a key regulatory mechanism to reduce solar absorption and avoid high light damage. Moreover, compared with other approaches, both σ (ik) and σ (′) (ik) can be more easily estimated by our method, even under various growth conditions (e.g., different light environment; different CO(2), NO(2), O(2), and O(3) concentrations; air temperatures; or water stress), regardless of the type of the sample (e.g., dilute or concentrated cell suspensions or leaves). Our results also show that CO(2) concentration and temperature have little effect on σ (ik) values for G. max and Z. mays. Consequently, our approach provides a powerful tool to investigate light energy absorption of photosynthetic pigment molecules and gives us new information on how plants and cyanobacteria modify their light-harvesting properties under different stress conditions.