Light-chilling effects were investigated in chilling-sensitive cucumber (Cucumis satiuus L. cv. Ilmichungjang) and chilling-resistant pea (Pisum satiuum L. cv. Giant) leaf discs in relation to possible damage in D1 protein. In both plants, dark-chilling did not cause any noticeable changes in (Fv)m/Fm, and lincomycin did not affect the decrease in (Fv)m/Fm caused by light-chilling. This result suggests that the de novo synthesis of D1 protein did not occur actively during light-chilling. In pea light-chilled for 6 h, the decreased (Fv)m/Fm was partly recovered in the dark, and almost complete recovery was observed in the light. In cucumber light-chilled for 3 h, the reduced (Fv)m/Fm decreased further for the initial 2 h recovery process in the light regardless of the treatment of lincomycin and recovered very slowly. In both plant species, the treatment of lincomycin inhibited the recovery process in the light, but did not significantly inhibit the process in the dark. In cucumber leaves pulse-labeled with [^(35)S]Met, the labeled band intensities of isolated pigment-protein complexes were almost the same during the 6 h light-chilling, but significant decreases in band intensities were observed during the 3 h recovery period. This result suggests that the irreversibly damaged D1 protein was degraded during the recovery period. However, no noticeable changes were observed in the pea leaves during the 12 h chilling and 3 h recovery period. The polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the pigment-protein complexes showed that the principal lesion sites of light-chilling were different from those of room temperature photoinhibition.