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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Plant Cell Reports

Fast structural remodeling of Jatropha curcas thylakoids upon recovery underpins chloroplast resilience to drought

  • Richard Hembrom1
  • Helena Sapeta2,3
  • Ottó Zsiros4
  • Márton Markó5
  • Gergely Nagy6,7
  • Éva Sárvári8
  • Ádám Solti8
  • M. Margarida Oliveira2
  • Győző Garab4,9
  • Katalin Solymosi1
9 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Plant Anatomy, Institute of Biology, Faculty of Science, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
  2. 2Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Oeiras, Portugal
  3. 3Present Address: Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária, I.P., UEIS Biotecnologia e Recursos Genéticos, Elvas, Portugal
  4. 4Institute of Plant Biology, HUN-REN Biological Research Centre, Szeged, Hungary
  5. 5Budapest Neutron Centre, HUN-REN Centre for Energy Research, Budapest, Hungary
  6. 6Laboratory for Neutron Scattering and Imaging, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen, Switzerland
  7. 7Present Address: Neutron Scattering Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN USA
  8. 8Department of Plant Physiology and Molecular Plant Biology, Institute of Biology, Faculty of Science, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
  9. 9Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech Republic
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Abstract

Jatropha curcas is a moderate stem-succulent oil crop renowned for its drought tolerance. While the photosynthetic activity of drought-stressed and rewatered Jatropha curcas has been investigated, little is known about the effects of drought and rewatering on chloroplast integrity and thylakoid architecture, critical determinants of photosynthetic performance under stress. Here, we exposed J. curcas seedlings to 19 days of water withdrawal followed by rewatering. Leaf relative water content remained unchanged throughout, indicating efficient water retention. Leaf anatomy was largely preserved, but chloroplasts became slightly smaller. Small-angle neutron scattering and transmission electron microscopy revealed a 2–4 nm decrease in granum repeat distance under drought. Electron microscopy further showed that this decrease was stronger in palisade than in spongy parenchyma chloroplasts. In thylakoids, the photosynthetic complexes were adjusted differently under drought: photosystem (PS) I and light harvesting complex (LHC) II remained unchanged, whereas PSII complexes decreased, increasing the PSI/PSII and LHCII/PSII ratios. Among the remaining PSII, larger supercomplexes were proportionally enriched, suggesting their higher drought stability. These changes coincided with a moderate decrease in PSII activity (Fv/Fm) and increased non-photochemical quenching. After rewatering, granum repeat distances recovered within hours (0.5–1 h in spongy and 5 h in palisade chloroplasts), revealing the involvement of rapidly reversible membrane remodeling under drought, while full recovery of photosynthetic performance and thylakoid protein composition was slower, requiring days. The high plasticity and rapid recovery of the thylakoid architecture is proposed to enable Jatropha curcas to restore its drought-affected photosynthetic apparatus and resume photosynthesis once water becomes available.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{hembrom2026fast,
  title = {{Fast structural remodeling of Jatropha curcas thylakoids upon recovery underpins chloroplast resilience to drought}},
  author = {Richard Hembrom and Helena Sapeta and Ottó Zsiros and Márton Markó and Gergely Nagy and Éva Sárvári and Ádám Solti and M. Margarida Oliveira and Győző Garab and Katalin Solymosi},
  journal = {Plant Cell Reports},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1007/s00299-026-04019-w},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-026-04019-w},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Fast structural remodeling of Jatropha curcas thylakoids upon recovery underpins chloroplast resilience to drought
AU  - Richard Hembrom
AU  - Helena Sapeta
AU  - Ottó Zsiros
AU  - Márton Markó
AU  - Gergely Nagy
AU  - Éva Sárvári
AU  - Ádám Solti
AU  - M. Margarida Oliveira
AU  - Győző Garab
AU  - Katalin Solymosi
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/26
JO  - Plant Cell Reports
DO  - 10.1007/s00299-026-04019-w
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-026-04019-w
AB  - Jatropha curcas is a moderate stem-succulent oil crop renowned for its drought tolerance. While the photosynthetic activity of drought-stressed and rewatered Jatropha curcas has been investigated, little is known about the effects of drought and rewatering on chloroplast integrity and thylakoid architecture, critical determinants of photosynthetic performance under stress. Here, we exposed J. curcas seedlings to 19 days of water withdrawal followed by rewatering. Leaf relative water content remained unchanged throughout, indicating efficient water retention. Leaf anatomy was largely preserved, but chloroplasts became slightly smaller. Small-angle neutron scattering and transmission electron microscopy revealed a 2–4 nm decrease in granum repeat distance under drought. Electron microscopy further showed that this decrease was stronger in palisade than in spongy parenchyma chloroplasts. In thylakoids, the photosynthetic complexes were adjusted differently under drought: photosystem (PS) I and light harvesting complex (LHC) II remained unchanged, whereas PSII complexes decreased, increasing the PSI/PSII and LHCII/PSII ratios. Among the remaining PSII, larger supercomplexes were proportionally enriched, suggesting their higher drought stability. These changes coincided with a moderate decrease in PSII activity (Fv/Fm) and increased non-photochemical quenching. After rewatering, granum repeat distances recovered within hours (0.5–1 h in spongy and 5 h in palisade chloroplasts), revealing the involvement of rapidly reversible membrane remodeling under drought, while full recovery of photosynthetic performance and thylakoid protein composition was slower, requiring days. The high plasticity and rapid recovery of the thylakoid architecture is proposed to enable Jatropha curcas to restore its drought-affected photosynthetic apparatus and resume photosynthesis once water becomes available.
SN  - 0721-7714
SN  - 1432-203X
ER  -