Photoprotective mechanisms: Carotenoids

Abstract

Environmental light can frequently be detrimental to the photosynthetic machinery of plants. This chapter provides an up-to-date overview of the targets of the photo-oxidative damage caused by light and the multiple functions of photosynthetic carotenoids that minimize it. Recently acquired knowledge on the localisation and distribution of carotenoids in the photosynthetic apparatus of plants is presented. Mechanisms that control the light harvesting process in the photosynthetic antenna of higher plants, via protective energy dissipation, are compared and discussed. The role of functional genomics approaches to the study of the multiple functions of carotenoids are highlighted. The significance of carotenoid structure and the physico-chemical properties that enable fine control over the photosynthetic light harvesting processes are analysed and discussed in order to explain the variety of their types.