Response of isolated thylakoid membranes with altered fluidity to short term heat stress

The effect of alterations of lipid phase order of thylakoid membranes on the thermosensitivity of photosystem I (PS I) and photosystem II (PS II) was studied. Plant sterols stigmasterol and cholesterol were applied to decrease the fluidity in isolated membranes. After sterol treatment, a decrease of the temperature of 50 % inhibition of PSII activity was observed. Heat stress-induced stimulation of PSI-mediated electron transport rate was registered for control, but not for sterol-treated membranes. Effect of altered lipid order on oxygen evolving complex was evaluated by means of flash oxygen yields revealing changes in the stoichiometry of PSII_α and PSII_β centers. The effect of sterol incorporation on the changes in the thermotropic behavior of the main pigment-protein complexes was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). DSC traces of control thylakoids in the temperature range 20–98 °C exhibited several irreversible endothermic transitions. Incorporation of cholesterol and stigmasterol results in superimposition of the transitions and only two main bands could be resolved. While high temperature band peaks at the same temperature after treatment with both sterols, the band that combines low temperature transitions shows different melting temperature (T_m): 70 °C for stigmasterol- and 65 °C for cholesterol-treated membranes. The data presented here emphasise the crucial role of lipid order for the response of thylakoids to high temperatures, mediated not only by changes in the fluidity of bulk lipid phase as result of sterol incorporation but also by changes in the thermotropic properties of pigment-protein complexes.Key words: Cholesterol, Fluidity, Heat stress, Oxygen flash yields, Thylakoid membrane, Stigmasterol