Abstract
The light-harvesting complexes for PSII are generally divided into three categories; The core antennae (CP47/CP43), the minor antennae (monomeric LHCIIs), and the major antennae (trimeric LHCIIs). While the minor antennae have been suggested to have some role on quenching excessive light energy rather than harvesting it because of its high content of the xanthophyll cycle pigments, the Arabidopsis antisense plants of either CP26 or CP29 were reported to show no phenotype. Therefore, it is still controversial. In this study, we suppressed expression of one of the minor antennae CP29 in C. reinhardtii by RNAi technology. Transformants of the RNAi construct was first confirmed to have very low level of Lhcb4 mRNA as well as CP29 protein. Then, effects of CP29 suppression on the physiology are examined. Based on the obtained results, the role of CP29 on the algal physiology will be discussed.
