2024/10/01 by Saulo Pireda, Maura Da Cunha · 1 voice
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms #Plant Stress Responses and Tolerance #Plant responses to elevated CO2
paper · pdf · doi:10.1002/ajb2.16415
openalex publication_date 2024/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/26
This essay discusses how the ultrastructural changes in chloroplasts, particularly the mechanisms of thylakoid membrane unstacking, help maintain the photosynthetic performance of photosystem II (PSII) under stress conditions. This phenomenon may facilitate the repair of damaged PSII by providing access to the repair machinery. It is argued that this PSII repair mechanism accelerates PSII recovery, optimizing photosynthetic processes in stressed plants. Although some studies demonstrate the relationship between thylakoid membrane unstacking in stress conditions, these studies were developed with model species under controlled conditions. Thus, this essay serves as a validation tool for these previous studies, because it demonstrates that the relationships between ultrastructural changes in chloroplasts and the functioning of PSII are essential acclimative strategies for nonmodel plants to survive the constant edaphoclimatic changes of natural environments. Understanding these subcellular dynamics can significantly inform biologists about the plastic potential of plants, especially in heterogeneous environments. An integrated approach in future studies is necessary, highlighting the importance of exploring plant functional traits at multiple scales, because subcellular characteristics have great potential to understand plant acclimatization.