Investigate and understand the factors that affect the kinetics of NPQ induction and recovery

我的项目的目的是分析陆地植物的光保护机制，并了解它们之间的分子关系。虽然这是一个深入研究的研究领域，但非光化学猝灭（NPQ）的细节仍远未被理解。我的项目的出发点是我所在研究所的工作，其总体目标是通过调整光保护来提高重要粮食作物的植物生产力。第一步是通过在宿主植物中异源表达模式生物的三个基因来鉴定三个因子。利用这些基因的（天然）变体可能会进一步提高植物的生产力。这就是为什么宿主研究所的目标是用每个基因的变异来修饰已建立的构建体，以潜在地优化该构建体（目标1-5）。我的项目的主要目的是表征光保护机制的自然和诱导变化，并将获得的知识转移到作物植物。该研究包括类胡萝卜素花药黄质在陆地植物的所谓叶黄素循环中的作用（目的1）。这种色素的积累显著地表现出特定绿色藻类中叶黄素循环的变化。将研究这种改良机制对陆地植物的影响，并在分子水平上确定差异（目标2和3）。除了这些藻类的变化，我进一步的目的是确定和表征进一步自然发生的修改NPQ机制，在潜在的适应植物（目的4）。

The aim of my project is to analyze photoprotective mechanisms of land plants and to understand their molecular relationships. Although this is an intensively investigated research field, there are still details of the non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) that are far from understood.The starting point of my project is the work of my host institute dealing with the overall aim to enhance plant productivity of important food crops by tuning photoprotection. A first step was the identification of three factors by heterologous expression of three genes of a model organism in host plants. The utilization of (natural) variants of the genes could possibly lead to further enhanced plant productivity. This is why the host institute aims to modify the established construct with variations of each gene to potentially optimize this construct (Aim 1-5). The main aim of my project is to characterize natural and induced variations of photoprotective mechanisms and to transfer gained knowledge to crop plants. The investigation comprises the role of the carotenoid antheraxanthin within the so-called xanthophyll cycle of land plants (Aim 1). Accumulation of this pigment notably presents a variation of the xanthophyll cycle in specific green algae. The effect of such a modified mechanism on land plants will be investigated and the differences shall be determined on a molecular level (Aim 2 and 3). Besides these algal variations, I further aim to identify and characterize further naturally occurring modified NPQ mechanisms in potentially adapted plants (Aim 4).