Size-dependent fluorescence kinetics reveal contributions of intrinsic quenching and singlet–triplet annihilation during LHCII aggregation

Abstract

Aggregation of the main antenna complex of higher plants, Light-Harvesting Complex II (LHCII), is widely used as an in-vitro model for energy-dependent quenching (qE), yet fluorescence reduction in aggregates is frequently interpreted without a quantitative separation of intrinsic quenching from excitation-induced annihilation. Here, we address this ambiguity by directly correlating aggregate size, concentration, steady-state fluorescence intensity, and decay kinetics during controlled, incremental aggregation of isolated LHCII. By combining fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) with time-correlated single-photon counting (TCSPC) in a unified experimental framework, we monitored structural and photophysical changes in real time as detergent removal drives biphasic aggregation. We quantified the aggregate composition from the particle concentrations, enabling direct scaling of the absorption cross-section with aggregate size. The average fluorescence lifetime decreased semi-logarithmically with increases in hydrodynamic radius, whereas steady-state fluorescence intensities deviated strongly from this trend. Intensity-dependent measurements and steady-state kinetic modeling reveal that singlet-triplet annihilation (STA) emerges at moderate excitation intensities and rapidly becomes the dominant contributor to fluorescence quenching, even for relatively small aggregates. In contrast, intrinsic quenching increases more gradually with aggregate size. By quantitatively disentangling intrinsic excitation quenching from annihilation processes, this work demonstrates that STA can govern the apparent photophysical response of aggregated LHCII across excitation regimes commonly considered non-annihilating. The size-dependent mechanistic framework presented here provides a basis for distinguishing intrinsic quenching from annihilation effects in aggregation-based studies of photosynthetic antenna complexes.

HIGHLIGHTS • TCSPC-FCS uncovers biphasic LHCII aggregation during detergent removal. • Average LHCII aggregate compositions can be estimated from relative particle concentrations. • Excitation quenching depends logarithmically on LHCII aggregate size. • LHCII aggregation dramatically increases singlet-triplet annihilation. • Quenching and annihilation in LHCII aggregates can be disentangled by incremental aggregation.