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

本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。虽然这是一个被深入研究的领域，但关于非光化学猝灭(NPQ)的细节仍然远未被理解。我的项目的起点是我所在的研究所的工作，该研究所的总体目标是通过调节光保护来提高重要粮食作物的植物生产力。第一步是通过模式生物的三个基因在寄主植物中的异源表达来鉴定三个因子。利用这些基因的(自然)变体可能会进一步提高植物的生产力。这就是为什么主办研究所的目标是用每个基因的变异来修改已建立的结构，以潜在地优化该结构(目标1-5)。我这个项目的主要目的是描述光保护机制的自然和诱导变异，并将获得的知识转移到作物上。这项研究包括类胡萝卜素黄质在陆地植物叶黄素循环中的作用(目标1)。在特定的绿藻中，这种色素的积累明显表现出叶黄素循环的变化。将调查这种改进的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)。除了这些藻类变异，我的进一步目标是在潜在适应的植物中进一步识别和表征自然发生的修饰NPQ机制(目标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).