Cucumber leaves subjected to light chilling stress exhibit a preferential inactivation of photosystem (PS) I relative to PSII, resulting in the photoinhibition of photosynthesis.
In light-chilled cucumber leaves, Cu/Zn-Superoxide dismutase (SOD) is regarded as a primary target of the light chilling stress and its inactivation is closely related to the increased production of reactive oxygen species.
In the present study, we further explored that inactivation of PSI in cucumber leaves is not a light chilling specific, but general to various oxidative stresses.
Oxidative stress in cucumber leaves was induced by treatment of methylviologen (MV), a producer of reactive oxygen species in chloroplasts.
MV treatment decreased the maximal photosynthetic O2 evolution, resulting in the photoinhibition of photosynthesis.
The photoinhibition of photosynthesis was attributable to the decline in PSI functionality determined in vivo by monitoring absorption changes around 820 nm.
In addition, MV treatment inactivated both antioxidant enzymes Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase and ascorbate peroxidase known sensitive to reactive oxygen species.
From these results, we suggest that chloroplast antioxidant enzymes are the primary targets of photooxidative stress, followed by subsequent inactivation of PSI.