The chloroplast protein LTO1/AtVKOR is involved in the xanthophyll cycle and the acceleration of D1 protein degradation

• The deletion of LTO1 protein enhanced photoinhibition under high irradiance stress.
• An inhibitor of VDE in xanthophyll cycle altered non-photochemical quenching (NPQ).
• The LTO1 protein was related to the de-epoxidation of the xanthophyll cycle.
• LTO1 protein regulated xanthophyll cycle-mediated excess energy dissipation.
• The deficiency of LTO1 protein accelerated the D1 protein degradation rate.

The thylakoid protein LTO1/AtVKOR-DsbA is recently found to be an oxidoreductase involved in disulfide bond formation and the assembly of photosystem II (PSII) in Arabidopsis thaliana. In this study, experimental evidence showed that LTO1 deficiency caused severe photoinhibition which was related to the xanthophyll cycle and D1 protein degradation. The lto1-2 mutant was more sensitive to intense irradiance than wild type. When treated with different concentrations of dithiothreitol (DTT), an inhibitor of violaxanthin de-epoxidase (VDE) in the xanthophyll cycle, there was a larger reduction in NPQ in the wild type than in the lto1-2 mutant under high irradiance, indicating that lto1-2 had a lower sensitivity to DTT gradients than did the wild type. Zeaxanthin in the xanthophyll cycle, which participates in the thermal dissipation of excess absorbed light energy, was much less active in lto1-2 than in the wild type under intense light levels, and the de-epoxidation state of the xanthophyll cycle was consistent with the susceptibility of NPQ. Together these observations indicated that aggravated photoinhibition in lto1-2 was related to a reduction in xanthophyll cycle-associated energy dissipation. When D1 protein synthesis was suppressed by an inhibitor of chloroplast protein synthesis (streptomycin sulfate), the levels of D1 protein decreased more in the lto1-2 mutant than in the wild type when exposed to intense light levels, implying that a deficiency in LTO1 accelerated the degradation of D1 and thus affected D1 turnover. Transgenic complementation of plants with lto1-2 ultimately allowed for the recovery of the photoinhibition properties of leaves.