Rethinking plant photoprotection: New insights into antenna protein CP26

Plants must carefully strike a balance between harvesting sunlight to fuel photosynthesis and protecting themselves from light damage. Part of this balancing act is performed by antenna proteins that are bound to light-harvesting molecules inside plant chloroplasts. Mostly known for harvesting energy from sunlight, some antenna proteins can dissipate excess absorbed energy as heat through a photoprotection mechanism called non-photochemical quenching (NPQ).