Regulation of electron transport is essential for photosystem I stability and plant growth

Life depends on the ability of photosynthetic organisms to exploit sunlight to fix carbon dioxide into biomass. Photosynthesis is modulated by pathways such as cyclic and pseudocyclic electron flow (CEF and PCEF). CEF transfers electrons from photosystem I to the plastoquinone pool according to two mechanisms, one dependent on proton gradient regulators (PGR5/PGRL1) and the other on the type I NADH dehydrogenase (NDH) complex. PCEF uses electrons from photosystem I to reduce oxygen; in several groups of photosynthetic organisms but not in angiosperms, it is sustained by flavodiiron proteins (FLVs). PGR5/PGRL1, NDH and FLVs are all active in the moss Physcomitrella patens, and mutants depleted in these proteins show phenotypes under specific light regimes. Here, we demonstrated that CEF and PCEF exhibit strong functional overlap and that when one protein component is depleted, the others can compensate for most of the missing activity. When multiple mechanisms are simultaneously inactivated, however, plants show damage to photosystem I and strong growth reduction, demonstrating that mechanisms for the modulation of photosynthetic electron transport are indispensable.