The review deals with thermal dissipation of absorbed excitation energy within pigment-protein complexes of thylakoid membranes in higher plants. We focus on the de-excitation regulatory processes within photosystem 2 (PS2) that can be monitored as non-photochemical quenching of chlorophyll (Chl) a fluorescence consisting of three components known as energy-dependent quenching (q E ), state-transition quenching (q T ), and photoinhibitory quenching (q I ). We summarize the role of thylakoid lumen pH, xanthophylls, and PS2 proteins in q E mechanism. Further, both the similarity between q E and q I and specific features of q I are described. The other routes of thermal energy dissipation are also mentioned, that is dissipation within photosystem 1 and dissipation through the triplet Chl pathway. The significance of the individual deexcitation processes in protection against photo-oxidative damage to the photosynthetic apparatus under excess photon supply is stretched.
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