Antioxidation of Anthocyanins in Photosynthesis Under High Temperature Stress

Abstract Chlorophyll fluorescence and antioxidative capability in detached leaves of the wild type Arabidopsis thaliana L. ecotype Landsberg erecta ( Ler ) and three mutants deficient in anthocyanins biosynthesis ( tt3 , tt4 , and tt3tt4 ) were investigated during treatment with temperatures ranging 25–45 °C. In comparison with the wild type, chlorophyll fluorescence parameters Fv/Fm, Φ PSII , electron transport rate (ETR), Fv/Fo and qP in three anthocyanin‐deficient mutants showed a more rapidly decreasing rate when the temperature was over 35 °C. Non‐photochemical quenching (NPQ) in these mutants was almost completely lost at 44 °C, whereas the content of heat stable protein dropped and the rate of the membrane leakage increased. Fo‐temperature curves were obtained by monitoring Fo levels with gradually elevated temperatures from 22 °C to 72 °C at 0.5 °C/min. The inflexion temperatures of Fo were 45.8 °C in Ler , 45.1 °C in tt3 , 44.1 °C in tt4 and 42.3 °C in tt3tt4 , respectively. The temperatures of maximal Fo in three mutants were 1.9–3.8 °C lower than the wild type plants. Meanwhile, three mutants had lower activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and an inferior scavenging capability to DPPH (1.1‐diphenyl‐2‐picrylhy.drazyl) radical under heat stress, and in particular tt3tt4 had the lowest antioxidative potential. The results of the diaminobenzidine‐H 2 O 2 histochemical staining showed that H 2 O 2 was accumulated in the leaf vein and mesophyll cells of mutants under treatment at 40 °C, and it was significantly presented in leaf cells of tt3tt4 . The sensitivity of Arabidopsis anthocyanins‐deficient mutants to high temperatures has revealed that anthocyanins in normal plants might provide protection from high temperature injury, by enhancing its antioxidative capability under high temperature stress.