ABSTRACT
Temperature and high light intensity are among the main environmental factors that limit growth and development of the photosynthetic organisms, and their survival depends on the ability to adapt and respond to environmental changes. It is well known that the photosynthetic apparatus is very sensitive to abiotic stress factors. Temperatures above and below normal physiological range, as well as high light intensity, provoke oxidative stress causing primary damage in the photosynthetic apparatus and an inhibition of the photosynthesis (Wise and Naylor 1987; Hodgson and Raison 1991; Nie et al. 1992; Prochazkova and Wilhelmova 2010). The changes in photosynthetic membranes depend on growth conditions and plant species. A multilevel of adaptation strategies exists to help photosynthetic organisms to cope with altered environmental conditions, ensuring high levels of survival (Ruban 2009). A central role in the adaptation of plants and green algae plays the chlorophyll a/b binding light-harvesting complex of photosystem II (LHCII) by regulating the efficiency of light harvesting in photosynthesis (for a review, see Ruban et al. 2012). The primary target of action of stress factors in plants and algae is the photosystem II (PSII) complex since one of the most sensitive sites is the oxygen evolving complex (OEC) (Hakala et al. 2005; Murata et al. 2007; Tyystjärvi 2008; Mathur et al. 2014). This chapter is focused on the role of different amounts and organization of LHCII complex on the sensitivity of the photosynthetic apparatus to temperature and high light intensity.
