Photoprotection strategies that have evolved in plants to cope with high light (HL) stress provide plants with the ability to resist HL. However, it has not been clearly confirmed which photoprotection strategy is the major HL resistance mechanism. To reveal the major photoprotection mechanism against short-term high light (STHL), the physiological and biochemical responses of three Arabidopsis mutants (Col, chi and ans) under STHL were analyzed in this study. After STHL treatment, the most serious photosynthetic pigment damage was observed in chi plants. At the same time, the degrees of membrane and Rubisco damage in chi was the highest, followed by Col, and ans was the smallest. The results showed that ans with high antioxidant capacity showed higher resistance to STHL treatment than Col containing anthocyanins, while chi with no anthocyanin accumulation and small antioxidant capacity had the lowest resistance. In addition, the gene expression results showed that plants tend to synthesize anthocyanin precursor flavonoids with antioxidant capacity under STHL stress. To further determine the major mechanism of photoprotection under STHL, we also analyzed Arabidopsis lines (Col, CHS1, CHS2 and tt4) that had the same anthocyanin content but different antioxidant capacities. It was found that CHS2 with high antioxidant capacity had higher cell viability, smaller maximal quantum yield of PSII photochemistry (F-v/F-m) reduction and less reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation under HL treatment of their mesophyll protoplasts. Therefore, the antioxidant capacity provided by antioxidant substances was the major mechanism of plant photoprotection under STHL treatment.
