In the last thirty years, huge research efforts have led to the structural elucidation of the protein-nanomachines involved in conversion of sunlight into chemical energy that fuels the metabolism of photosynthetic organisms and beyond. Consequently, we now have an excellent set of high-resolution structures that puts photosynthetic thylakoid membranes among the best-characterized biomembranes. However, understanding of the structure and function of individual complexes is only the starting point for in-depth understanding of the intact photosynthetic membrane, a complex, structured, and dynamic system whose components must interact with other and must be constantly synthesized, regulated, and degraded. Recent break-throughs in electron and light microscopy and elaboration of biochemical and biophysical analysis techniques allow deep insights in the overall architecture of photosynthetic membranes as well as in the arrangement of nanomachines in membranes and down to the plasticity of individual complexes. Now, the scene is set to study the flexibility and dynamics of photosynthetic machineries with unprecedented resolution that became a research focus over the last years. Why is knowledge about the structural dynamics of photosynthetic membranes important? Because reorganization of the photosynthetic machinery in plants, algae, and cyanobacteria is essential for developmental/biogenesis, functional, regulatory, acclimation, repair, and degradation processes in thylakoid membranes, in short, for all aspects of photosynthetic energy conversion. We now know that thylakoid membranes constantly change their shape on different structural levels. The plasticity of the photosynthetic apparatus controlled by environmental factors is central for the survival and fitness of photosynthetic organisms. Thus, understanding the dynamics and flexibility of structural alterations in thylakoids is required for improving crop and biofuel prospects and for synthetic biological approaches to increase photosynthetic performance.
This Research Topic of Frontiers in Plant Sciences covers structural aspects ranging from the overall thylakoid membrane level (μm) down to the molecular scale (nm) and from higher plants to cyanobacteria. It will demonstrate that structural reorganization of photosynthetic membranes is realized on many different spatial and temporal levels and is essential to the photosynthetic lifestyles of plants and microalgae.

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