Thylakoid Membrane Organisation in Sun/Shade Acclimation

Abstract

The photosynthetic apparatus of plants responds to changing light quantity and quality with coordinated changes in both the light-harvesting antennae of the photosystems and the amounts of electron transport components and ATP synthase. These compositional modulations are accompanied by changes in thylakoid membrane organisation and photosynthetic capacity. It is now clear that there is a dynamic continuum of organisation and function of the photosynthetic apparatus from the appressed granal and non-appressed stroma thylakoids within a chloroplast, to different chloroplasts within a leaf, to leaves within and between species. While it is very unlikely that there is a unique solution to photosynthesis in the sun or shade, substantial changes in composition, and hence thylakoid membrane organisation and function, are elicited as part of sun/shade responses.