Dissecting the Contributions to Non-photochemical Quenching in a Land Plant Under Fluctuating Light

Dissecting the Contributions to Non-photochemical Quenching in a Land Plant Under Fluctuating Light | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Dissecting the Contributions to Non-photochemical Quenching in a Land Plant Under Fluctuating Light Graham Fleming, Lam Lam, Rebecca Lee, Dhruv Patel-Tupper, Henry Lam, and 5 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6430823/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 09 Mar, 2026 Read the published version in Nature Communications → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract To safely dissipate excess excitation energy, photosynthetic organisms have evolved multiple photoprotection mechanisms. These mechanisms involve various molecular players functioning on overlapping timescales from seconds to days, making it challenging to isolate and quantify their individual kinetics. In this study, we perform whole-leaf chlorophyll fluorescence lifetime and xanthophyll concentration measurements on wild-type and various newly characterized non-photochemical quenching mutants of Nicotiana benthamiana , an allotetraploid vascular land plant. Based on these measurements, we construct a fluorescence lifetime-based quantitative kinetic model that disentangles individual photoprotection components and, when integrated additively, accurately predicts wild-type and mutant quenching/recovery behaviors under various light-dark regimes. Additionally, the model quantifies the per-molecule quenching efficiencies of various xanthophylls and the contributions of six quenching pathways across different mutants. It also suggests that enhancing VDE, ZEP, and PsbS expression improves overall quenching efficiency, aligning with previous studies and supporting translational efforts to optimize photoprotection and enhance crop yields under dynamic light environments. Biological sciences/Biophysics/Bioenergetics Biological sciences/Plant sciences/Photosynthesis/Non-photochemical quenching Physical sciences/Chemistry/Photochemistry/Light harvesting Physical sciences/Chemistry/Theoretical chemistry Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files Finalv8SItobaccomodeling.pdf Supplementary Information MovieS1.gif Movie S1 Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 09 Mar, 2026 Read the published version in Nature Communications → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. 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