Irradiation of thylakoid membranes at 40 °C resulted in complete inhibition of photosystem (PS) 2 activity measured as 2,6-dichlorophenol indophenol (DCIP) photoreduction either in the absence or presence of 1,5-diphenylcarbazide (DPC). Concomitant with the inactivation of PS2 activity, several thylakoid proteins were lost and high molecular mass cross-linking products appeared that cross-reacted with antibodies against proteins of PS2 but not with antibodies against proteins of other three complexes PS1, ATP synthase, and cytochrome b6f. Irradiation of thylakoid membranes suspended in buffer of basic pH or high concentration of Tris at 25 °C resulted in the formation of cross-linking products similar to those in thylakoid membranes irradiated at 40 °C. Presence of radical scavengers and DPC during the high temperature treatment prevented the formation of cross-linking products. These results suggest the involvement of oxygen evolving co mplex (OEC) in the formation of cross-linking between PS2 proteins in thylakoid membrane irradiated at high temperature. and Abhay K. Singh, G. S. Singhal.
Effect of high temperature on the plastid gene expression during the light induced chloroplast development in etiolated seedlings was determined by Northern hybridisation using cloned DNA fragments of wheat chloroplast genome. Based on their response to high temperature, plastid genes were grouped into three categories: (1) plastid genes whose expression was not affected by high temperature (genes for rRNA, ribosomal proteins, tRNAs, and some genes coding for putative NADH dehydrogenase); (2) plastid genes whose expression increased at high temperature (genes coding for α-subunit of RNA polymerase and some unidentified transcripts, and (3) plastid genes whose expression decreased at high temperature (genes coding for proteins involved in photosynthetic process). Loss of a number of primary transcripts originating from operons consisting of genes that code for proteins involved in the photosynthetic process was observed. The expression of all the light inducible plastid genes was inhibited suggesting that the light inducibility property was lost at high temperature. and Abhay K. Singh, G. S. Singhal.