Investigation on absorption cross-section of photosynthetic pigment molecules based on a mechanistic model of the photosynthetic electron flow-light response in C3, C4 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 (σik) 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 m2, 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 CO2 concentration of 400 or 600 μmol CO2 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 σik has the same order of magnitude (approximately 10−21 m2), 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 σik and σ′ik can be more easily estimated by our method, even under various growth conditions (e.g., different light environment; different CO2, NO2, O2, and O3 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 CO2 concentration and temperature have little effect on σik 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.