The study looked at how a pathway called the mitochondrial alternative oxidase (AOX) helps cucumber leaves recover from chilling stress and high light exposure. Chilling induced the AOX pathway, which helps prevent damage to the photosynthetic system. High light made the leaves less efficient at photosynthesis, especially when the AOX pathway was blocked. After chilling, leaves with active AOX pathway recovered better under low light, while high light caused more damage, especially when AOX was blocked. This shows that the AOX pathway is crucial for protecting cucumber leaves from excess light energy during chilling and recovery, but under low light, other protective mechanisms are more important.