ERC Starting Grant · 2025
Sunlight is a source of life for plants but also of photodamage. To harvest solar energy “safely”, plants have developed a nanoscale mechanism controlled by small proteins which bind pigments, called light-harvesting complexes (LHCs). At low light intensities, the LHCs harvest and transport solar energy to the sites of photochemistry. Under intense light, LHCs switch function to dissipate excess energy as heat. Through this photoprotective switch, the LHCs efficiently protect plants from photodamage. Yet, how do plants activate the LHC photoprotective switch? Current models assume that the switch is driven by protein conformational changes of the LHCs, regulated by the environment through…
From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.