Neutron Scattering Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37830, USA.
Institute for Solid State Physics and Optics, Wigner Research Centre for Physics, POB 49, 1525, Budapest, Hungary.
Photosynth Res. 2021 Dec;150(1-3):41-49. doi: 10.1007/s11120-020-00763-6. Epub 2020 Jun 2.
The photosynthetic performance of crop plants under a variety of environmental factors and stress conditions, at the fundamental level, depends largely on the organization and structural flexibility of thylakoid membranes. These highly organized membranes accommodate virtually all protein complexes and additional compounds carrying out the light reactions of photosynthesis. Most regulatory mechanisms fine-tuning the photosynthetic functions affect the organization of thylakoid membranes at different levels of the structural complexity. In order to monitor these reorganizations, non-invasive techniques are of special value. On the mesoscopic scale, small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) has been shown to deliver statistically and spatially averaged information on the periodic organization of the thylakoid membranes in vivo and/or, in isolated thylakoids, under physiologically relevant conditions, without fixation or staining. More importantly, SANS investigations have revealed rapid reversible reorganizations on the timescale of several seconds and minutes. In this paper, we give a short introduction into the basics of SANS technique, advantages and limitations, and briefly overview recent advances and potential applications of this technique in the physiology and biotechnology of crop plants. We also discuss future perspectives of neutron crystallography and different neutron scattering techniques, which are anticipated to become more accessible and of more use in photosynthesis research at new facilities with higher fluxes and innovative instrumentation.
作物在各种环境因素和胁迫条件下的光合作用性能，从根本上取决于类囊体膜的组织和结构灵活性。这些高度组织化的膜容纳了几乎所有的蛋白复合物和额外的化合物，进行光合作用的光反应。大多数调节光合作用功能的机制都影响到类囊体膜在结构复杂性的不同层次上的组织。为了监测这些重组，非侵入性技术具有特殊的价值。在介观尺度上，小角中子散射（SANS）已被证明可以提供关于活体类囊体膜周期性组织的统计和空间平均信息，以及在生理相关条件下，在未固定或染色的分离类囊体中。更重要的是，SANS 研究揭示了在几秒钟和几分钟的时间尺度上的快速可逆重组。在本文中，我们将简要介绍 SANS 技术的基础、优点和局限性，并简要概述该技术在作物生理学和生物技术中的最新进展和潜在应用。我们还讨论了中子晶体学和不同中子散射技术的未来前景，预计在新设施中，随着通量和创新仪器的提高，这些技术将变得更加容易获得和更有助于光合作用研究。
