Topic
Photosynthesis
About: Photosynthesis is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 19789 publications have been published within this topic receiving 895197 citations.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
More filters
TL;DR: There was no difference in growth between wild-type and antisense plants under controlled climate conditions, but the antisense Plants performed worse compared to the wild type in the field, with decreases in seed production of up to 70%.
Abstract: We have constructed Arabidopsis thaliana plants that are virtually devoid of the major light-harvesting complex, LHC II. This was accomplished by introducing the Lhcb2.1 coding region in the antisense orientation into the genome by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Lhcb1 and Lhcb2 were absent, while Lhcb3, a protein present in LHC II associated with photosystem (PS) II, was retained. Plants had a pale green appearance and showed reduced chlorophyll content and an elevated chlorophyll a/b ratio. The content of PS II reaction centres was unchanged on a leaf area basis, but there was evidence for increases in the relative levels of other light harvesting proteins, notably CP26, associated with PS II, and Lhca4, associated with PS I. Electron microscopy showed the presence of grana. Photosynthetic rates at saturating irradiance were the same in wild-type and antisense plants, but there was a 10-15% reduction in quantum yield that reflected the decrease in light absorption by the leaf. The antisense plants were not able to perform state transitions, and their capacity for non-photochemical quenching was reduced. There was no difference in growth between wild-type and antisense plants under controlled climate conditions, but the antisense plants performed worse compared to the wild type in the field, with decreases in seed production of up to 70%.
241 citations
TL;DR: Whole-leaf photosynthesis is limited by gas phase, mesophyll diffusion, and carboxylation resistances in nearly the same proportion in both herbaceous species and trees.
Abstract: Using simultaneous measurements of leaf gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence, we determined the excitation partitioning to photosystem II (PSII), the CO2/O2 specificity of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase, the dark respiration in the light, and the alternative electron transport rate to acceptors other than bisphosphoglycerate, and the transport resistance for CO2 in the mesophyll cells for individual leaves of herbaceous and tree species. The specificity of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase for CO2 was determined from the slope of the O2 dependence of the CO2 compensation point between 1.5 and 21% O2. Its value, on the basis of dissolved CO2 and O2 concentrations at 25.5[deg]C, varied between 86 and 89. Dark respiration in the light, estimated from the difference between the CO2 compensation point and the CO2 photocompensation point, was about 20 to 50% of the respiration rate in the dark. The excitation distribution to PSII was estimated from the extrapolation of the dependence of the PSII quantum yield on F/Fm to F = 0, where F is steady-state and Fm is pulse-satuarated fluorescence, and varied between 0.45 and 0.6. The alternative electron transport rate was found as the difference between the electron transport rates calculated from fluorescence and from gas exchange, and at low CO2 concentrations and 10 to 21% O2, it was 25 to 30% of the maximum electron transport. The calculated mesophyll diffusion resistance accounted for about 20 to 30% of the total mesophyll resistance, which also includes carboxylation resistance. Whole-leaf photosynthesis is limited by gas phase, mesophyll diffusion, and carboxylation resistances in nearly the same proportion in both herbaceous species and trees.
241 citations
TL;DR: Cd2+ in the low-microM range inhibited photoactivation in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and in isolated Photosystem II, suggesting that this event is also involved in the Cd2-induced inhibition of photosynthesis in vivo.
241 citations
TL;DR: Results indicate that a specific chloroplast enzyme, rubisco activase, catalyzes the activation of rubisco in vivo.
Abstract: Ribulosebisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (EC 4.1.1.39) (rubisco) must be fully activated in order to catalyze the maximum rates of photosynthesis observed in plants. Activation of the isolated enzyme occurs spontaneously, but conditions required to observe full activation are inconsistent with those known to occur in illuminated chloroplasts. Genetic studies with a nutant of Arabidopsis thaliana incapable of activating rubisco linked two chloroplast polypeptides to the activation process in vivo. Using a reconstituted light activation system, it was possible to demonstrate the participation of a chloroplast protein in rubisco activation. These results indicate that a specific chloroplast enzyme, rubisco activase, catalyzes the activation of rubisco in vivo.
241 citations
TL;DR: Analysis of the characteristics of chlorophyll fluorescence induction in sub- and super-saturating light revealed two targets of mild heat stress: an irreversible inhibition of electron donation to PSII and a reversible reduction of excitation energy trapping by the PSII reaction centers, with the former effect being identified as the major determinant of the loss of photosynthesis.
241 citations