The early light-induced proteins (ELIPs) belong to the multigenic family of light-harvesting complexes, which bind chlorophyll and absorb solar energy in green plants. ELIPs accumulate transiently in plants exposed to high light intensities. By using an Arabidopsis thaliana mutant (chaos) affected in the posttranslational targeting of light-harvesting complex-type proteins to the thylakoids, we succeeded in suppressing the rapid accumulation of ELIPs during high-light stress, resulting in leaf bleaching and extensive photooxidative damage. Constitutive expression of ELIP genes in chaos before light stress resulted in ELIP accumulation and restored the phototolerance of the plants to the wild-type level. Free chlorophyll, a generator of singlet oxygen in the light, was detected by chlorophyll fluorescence lifetime measurements in chaos leaves before the symptoms of oxidative stress appeared. Our findings indicate that ELIPs fulfill a photoprotective function that could involve either the binding of chlorophylls released during turnover of pigment-binding proteins or the stabilization of the proper assembly of those proteins during high-light stress.L ight is essential for plants through photosynthetic carbon assimilation. However, when absorbed light exceeds the photosynthetic capacities, reactive O 2 species are generated in the chloroplasts, causing oxidative damage to proteins, lipids, and photosynthetic pigments (1, 2). This effect is amplified by environmental stresses such as low temperature or drought, for example, that inhibit the photosynthetic activity, leading to strong yield reduction in crops. In green plants, solar energy is collected by chlorophyll-and carotenoid-binding lightharvesting complexes (LHCs), which are encoded by a multigene family of LHC genes. The expression of these genes is tightly regulated by light (2-4). High light intensities inhibit transcription of LHC genes and activate synthesis of the early lightinduced proteins (ELIPs), a class of proteins structurally related to the LHCs (5). The ELIPs are predicted to have three transmembrane helices, and they have sequence similarity to the LHCs in the central pair of helices (6, 7). The similarity is not only at the sequence level, however, because both LHCs and ELIPs bind chlorophyll and carotenoids (8). The ELIPs differ from the LHCs by their transient expression under high-light stress (5). Recently, a number of ELIP-type polypeptides, containing LHC motifs and inducible by high light, have been discovered in vascular plants: the one-helix high-light-induced proteins (9) and the two-helix stress-enhanced proteins (10).The physiological role of the ELIPs in vascular plants has not yet been elucidated, although there have been several suggestions (11)(12)(13)(14). The induction of ELIPs by high light intensities suggests a role in the acclimation to light stress rather than a light-harvesting function, but this has not yet been demonstrated. ELIP antisense transgenic tobacco plants did not exhibit any phenotype of sensitivity to high ...

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The intercalated disk (ID) is a specialized subcellular region that provides electrical and mechanical connections between myocytes in the heart. The ID has a clearly defined passive role in cardiac tissue, transmitting mechanical forces and electrical currents between cells. Recent studies have shown that Na+ channels, the primary current responsible for cardiac excitation, are preferentially localized at the ID, particularly within nanodomains such as the gap junction–adjacent perinexus and mechanical junction–associated adhesion-excitability nodes, and that perturbations of ID structure alter cardiac conduction. This suggests that the ID may play an important, active role in regulating conduction. However, the structures of the ID and intercellular cleft are not well characterized and, to date, no models have incorporated the influence of ID structure on conduction in cardiac tissue. In this study, we developed an approach to generate realistic finite element model (FEM) meshes replicating nanoscale of the ID structure, based on experimental measurements from transmission electron microscopy images. We then integrated measurements of the intercellular cleft electrical conductivity, derived from the FEM meshes, into a novel cardiac tissue model formulation. FEM-based calculations predict that the distribution of cleft conductances is sensitive to regional changes in ID structure, specifically the intermembrane separation and gap junction distribution. Tissue-scale simulations predict that ID structural heterogeneity leads to significant spatial variation in electrical polarization within the intercellular cleft. Importantly, we found that this heterogeneous cleft polarization regulates conduction by desynchronizing the activation of postjunctional Na+ currents. Additionally, these heterogeneities lead to a weaker dependence of conduction velocity on gap junctional coupling, compared with prior modeling formulations that neglect or simplify ID structure. Further, we found that disruption of local ID nanodomains can either slow or enhance conduction, depending on gap junctional coupling strength. Our study therefore suggests that ID nanoscale structure can play a significant role in regulating cardiac conduction.