Maximizing light capture by light-harvesting pigment optimization represents an attractive but challenging strategy to improve photosynthetic efficiency. Here， we report that loss of a previously uncharacterized gene， HIGH PHOTOSYNTHETIC EFFICIENCY1 (HPE1)， optimizes light-harvesting pigments， leading to improved photosynthetic efficiency and biomass production. Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) hpe1 mutants show faster electron transport and increased contents of carbohydrates. HPE1 encodes a chloroplast protein containing an RNA recognition motif that directly associates with and regulates the splicing of target RNAs of plastid genes. HPE1 also interacts with other plastid RNA-splicing factors， inc... More
Maximizing light capture by light-harvesting pigment optimization represents an attractive but challenging strategy to improve photosynthetic efficiency. Here， we report that loss of a previously uncharacterized gene， HIGH PHOTOSYNTHETIC EFFICIENCY1 (HPE1)， optimizes light-harvesting pigments， leading to improved photosynthetic efficiency and biomass production. Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) hpe1 mutants show faster electron transport and increased contents of carbohydrates. HPE1 encodes a chloroplast protein containing an RNA recognition motif that directly associates with and regulates the splicing of target RNAs of plastid genes. HPE1 also interacts with other plastid RNA-splicing factors， including CAF1 and OTP51， which share common targets with HPE1. Deficiency of HPE1 alters the expression of nucleus-encoded chlorophyll-related genes， probably through plastid-to-nucleus signaling， causing decreased total content of chlorophyll (a+b) in a limited range but increased chlorophyll a/b ratio. Interestingly， this adjustment of light-harvesting pigment reduces antenna size， improves light capture， decreases energy loss， mitigates photodamage， and enhances photosynthetic quantum yield during photosynthesis. Our findings suggest a novel strategy to optimize light-harvesting pigments that improves photosynthetic efficiency and biomass production in higher plants.
