In Rhodobacter sphaeroides, carotenoids are essential constituents of the photosynthetic apparatus and are assumed to prevent the formation of singlet oxygen by quenching of triplet bacteriochlorophyll a (BChl a) in vivo. It was shown that small amounts of singlet oxygen are generated in vivo by incubation of R. sphaeroides under high light conditions. However, growth and survival rates were not affected. Higher amounts of singlet oxygen were generated by BChl a in a carotenoid-deficient strain

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... and led to a decrease in growth and survival rates. The data support earlier results on the pivotal role of carotenoids in the defence against stress caused by singlet oxygen. Results obtained under photo-oxidative stress conditions with strains impaired in carotenoid synthesis suggest that sphaeroidene and neurosporene provide less protection against methylene-blue-generated singlet oxygen than sphaeroidenone in vivo. Despite their protective function against singlet oxygen, relative amounts of carotenoids did not accumulate in R. sphaeroides wild-type cultures under photo-oxidative stress, and relative mRNA levels of phytoene dehydrogenase and sphaeroidene monooxygenase did not increase. In contrast, singlet oxygen specifically induced the expression of glutathione peroxidase and a putative Zn-dependent hydrolase, but mRNA levels of hydrogen-peroxide-degrading catalase E were not significantly affected by photo-oxidative stress. Based on these results, it is suggested that singlet oxygen acts as a specific signal for gene expression in R. sphaeroides. Presumably transcriptional regulators exist to specifically induce the expression of genes involved in the response to stress caused by singlet oxygen.