Photoinhibition of photosystem II was studied in vivo with bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) plants grown in the presence of 0.3 (control), 4, or 15 m Cu 2ϩ . Although photoinhibition, measured in the presence of lincomycin to block concurrent recovery, is faster in leaves of Cu 2ϩ -treated plants than in control leaves, thylakoids isolated from Cu-treated plants did not show high sensitivity to photoinhibition. Direct effects of excess Cu 2ϩ on chloroplast metabolism are actually unlikely, because the Cu concentration of chloroplasts of Cu-treated plants was lower than that of their leaves. Excess Cu in the growth medium did not cause severe oxidative stress, collapse of antioxidative defenses, or loss of photoprotection. Thus, these hypothetical effects can be eliminated as causes for Cu-enhanced photoinhibition in intact leaves. However, Cu treatment lowered the leaf chlorophyll (Chl) concentration and reduced the thylakoid membrane network. The loss of Chl and sensitivity to photoinhibition could be overcome by adding excess Fe together with excess Cu to the growth medium. The addition of Fe lowered the Cu 2ϩ concentration of the leaves, suggesting that Cu outcompetes Fe in Fe uptake. We suggest that the reduction of leaf Chl concentration, caused by the Cu-induced iron deficiency, causes the high photosensitivity of photosystem II in Cu 2ϩ -treated plants. A causal relationship between the susceptibility to photoinhibition and the leaf optical density was established in several plant species. Plant species adapted to high-light habitats apparently benefit from thick leaves because the rate of photoinhibition is directly proportional to light intensity, but photosynthesis becomes saturated by moderate light.

The 'stay-green' mutation cytG in soybean (Glycine max) partially inhibits the degradation of the light-harvesting complex II (LHCII) and the associated chlorophyll during monocarpic senescence. cytG did not alter the breakdown of the cytochrome b6/f complex, thylakoid ATP synthase or components of Photosystem I. In contrast, cytG accelerated the loss of oxygen evolution activity and PSII reaction-centre proteins. These data suggest that LHCII and other thylakoid components are degraded by separate pathways. In leaves induced to senesce by darkness, cytG inhibited the breakdown of LHCII and chlorophyll, but it did not enhance the loss of PSII-core components, indicating that the accelerated degradation of PSII reaction centre proteins in cytG was light dependent. Illumination of mature and senescent leaves of wild-type soybean in the presence of an inhibitor (lincomycin) of chloroplast protein synthesis revealed that senescence per se did not affect the rate of photoinhibition in leaves. Likewise, mature leaves of the cytG mutant did not show more photoinhibition than wild-type leaves. However, in senescent cytG leaves, photoinhibition proceeded more rapidly than in the wild-type. We conclude that the cytG mutation enhances photoinhibition in senescing leaves, and photoinhibition causes the rapid loss of PSII reaction-centre proteins during senescence in cytG.