Dissipation of excess light energy in plant photosynthetic membranes plays an important role in the response of plants to the environment, providing short-term balancing between the intensity of sunlight and photosynthetic capacity. The carotenoid zeaxanthin and the photosystem II subunit PsbS play vital roles in this process, but the mechanism of their action is largely unexplained. Here we report that the isolated photosystem II subunit PsbS was able to bind exogenous zeaxanthin, the binding resulting in a strong red shift in the absorption spectrum, and the appearance of characteristic features in the resonance Raman spectrum and a distinct circular dichroism spectrum, indicating pigment-protein, as well as specific pigment-pigment, interaction. A strong shift in the absorption spectrum of PsbS phenylalanine residues after zeaxanthin binding was observed. It is concluded that zeaxanthin binding to PsbS is the origin of the well known energy dissipation-related 535-nm absorption change that we showed in vivo to arise from activation of 1-2 molecules of this pigment. The altered properties of zeaxanthin and PsbS that result from this interaction provide the first direct indication about how they regulate energy dissipation.

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is initiated and maintained by the tyrosine kinase BCR-ABL which activates a number of signal transduction pathways, including PI3K/AKT signaling and consequently inactivates FOXO transcription factors. ABL-specific tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) induce minimal apoptosis in CML progenitor cells, yet exert potent antiproliferative effects, through as yet poorly understood mechanisms. Here, we demonstrate that in CD34+ CML cells, FOXO1 and 3a are inactivated and relocalized to the cytoplasm by BCR-ABL activity. TKIs caused a decrease in phosphorylation of FOXOs, leading to their relocalization from cytoplasm (inactive) to nucleus (active), where they modulated the expression of key FOXO target genes, such as Cyclin D1, ATM, CDKN1C, and BCL6 and induced G1 arrest. Activation of FOXO1 and 3a and a decreased expression of their target gene Cyclin D1 were also observed after 6 days of in vivo treatment with dasatinib in a CML transgenic mouse model. The over-expression of FOXO3a in CML cells combined with TKIs to reduce proliferation, with similar results seen for inhibitors of PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling. While stable expression of an active FOXO3a mutant induced a similar level of quiescence to TKIs alone, shRNA-mediated knockdown of FOXO3a drove CML cells into cell cycle and potentiated TKI-induced apoptosis. These data demonstrate that TKI-induced G1 arrest in CML cells is mediated through inhibition of the PI3K/AKT pathway and reactivation of FOXOs. This enhanced understanding of TKI activity and induced progenitor cell quiescence suggests that new therapeutic strategies for CML should focus on manipulation of this signaling network. Stem Cells 2014;32:2324–2337

No abstract