Dark Reactions (dark + reaction)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Evaluation of a High Exposure Solar UV Dosimeter for Underwater Use

PHOTOCHEMISTRY & PHOTOBIOLOGY, Issue 4 2007
Peter W. Schouten
ABSTRACT Solar ultraviolet radiation (UV) is known to have a significant effect upon the marine ecosystem. This has been documented by many previous studies using a variety of measurement methods in aquatic environments such as oceans, streams and lakes. Evidence gathered from these investigations has shown that UVB radiation (280,320 nm) can negatively affect numerous aquatic life forms, while UVA radiation (320,400 nm) can both damage and possibly even repair certain types of underwater life. Chemical dosimeters such as polysulphone have been tested to record underwater UV exposures and in turn quantify the relationship between water column depth and dissolved organic carbon levels to the distribution of biologically damaging UV underwater. However, these studies have only been able to intercept UV exposures over relatively short time intervals. This paper reports on the evaluation of a high exposure UV dosimeter for underwater use. The UV dosimeter was fabricated from poly 2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene oxide (PPO) film. This paper presents the dose response, cosine response, exposure additivity and watermarking effect relating to the PPO dosimeter as measured in a controlled underwater environment and will also detail the overnight dark reaction and UVA and visible radiation response of the PPO dosimeter, which can be used for error correction to improve the reliability of the UV data measured by the PPO dosimeters. These results show that this dosimeter has the potential for long-term underwater UV exposure measurements. [source]


A Mathematical Model for Photopolymerization From a Stationary Laser Light Source

MACROMOLECULAR THEORY AND SIMULATIONS, Issue 1 2005
Michael F. Perry
Abstract Summary: A mathematical model of photopolymerization is presented for a stationary laser. Termination by radical combination and radical trapping is considered. Using simplifying assumptions, we derive analytical equations for the concentration of photoinitiator and monomer in the system. With these equations, we show that the light intensity and the initial amount of photoinitiator highly influence the polymerization process and determine the shape of the polymer that is formed. We also provide an analytic expression to determine the amount of polymer formed during dark reactions. Percent conversion of monomer as a function of time at z,=,0 and r,=,0 (Data from Table 1). [source]


Effects of elevated ozone on photosynthesis and stomatal conductance of two soybean varieties: a case study to assess impacts of one component of predicted global climate change

PLANT BIOLOGY, Issue 2009
E. Singh
Abstract Global climatic change scenarios predict a significant increase in future tropospheric ozone (O3) concentrations. The present investigation was done to assess the effects of elevated O3 (70 and 100 ppb) on electron transport, carbon fixation, stomatal conductance and pigment concentrations in two tropical soybean (Glycine max L.) varieties, PK 472 and Bragg. Plants were exposed to O3 for 4 h·day,1 from 10:00 to 14:00 from germination to maturity. Photosynthesis of both varieties were adversely affected, but the reduction was higher in PK 472 than Bragg. A comparison of chlorophyll a fluorescence kinetics with carbon fixation suggested greater sensitivity of dark reactions than light reactions of photosynthesis to O3 stress. The O3 -induced uncoupling between photosynthesis and stomatal conductance in PK 472 suggests the reduction in photosynthesis may be attributed to a factor other than reduced stomatal conductance. An increase in internal CO2 concentration in both O3 -treated soybean varieties compared suggests that the reduction in photosynthesis was due to damage to the photosynthetic apparatus, leading to accumulation of internal CO2 and stomatal closure. The adverse impact of O3 stress increased at higher O3 concentrations in both soybean varieties leading to large reductions in photosynthesis. This study suggests that O3 -induced reductions in photosynthesis in tropical and temperate varieties are similar. [source]


Adjustment of leaf photosynthesis to shade in a natural canopy: rate parameters

PLANT CELL & ENVIRONMENT, Issue 3 2005
A. LAISK
ABSTRACT The present study was performed to investigate the adjustment of the rate parameters of the light and dark reactions of photosynthesis to the natural growth light in leaves of an overstorey species, Betula pendula Roth, a subcanopy species, Tilia cordata P. Mill., and a herb, Solidago virgaurea L., growing in a natural plant community in Järvselja, Estonia. Shoots were collected from the site and individual leaves were measured in a laboratory applying a standardized routine of kinetic gas exchange, Chl fluorescence and 820 nm transmittance measurements. These measurements enabled the calculations of the quantum yield of photosynthesis and rate constants of excitation capture by photochemical and non-photochemical quenchers, rate constant for P700+ reduction via the cytochrome b6f complex with and without photosynthetic control, actual maximum and potential (uncoupled) electron transport rate, stomatal and mesophyll resistances for CO2 transport, Km(CO2) and Vm of ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase (Rubisco) in vivo. In parallel, N, Chl and Rubisco contents were measured from the same leaves. No adjustment toward higher quantum yield in shade compared with sun leaves was observed, although relatively more N was partitioned to the light-harvesting machinery in shade leaves (H. Eichelmann et al., 2004). The electron transport rate through the Cyt b6f complex was strongly down-regulated under saturating light compared with darkness, and this was observed under atmospheric, as well as saturating CO2 concentration. In vivo Vm measurements of Rubisco were lower than corresponding reported measurements in vitro, and the kcat per reaction site varied widely between leaves and growth sites. The correlation between Rubisco Vm and the photosystem I density was stronger than between Vm and the density of Rubisco active sites. The results showed that the capacity of the photosynthetic machinery decreases in shade-adjusted leaves, but it still remains in excess of the actual photosynthetic rate. The photosynthetic control systems that are targeted to adjust the photosynthetic rate to meet the plant's needs and to balance the partial reactions of photosynthesis, down-regulate partial processes of photosynthesis: excess harvested light is quenched non-photochemically; excess electron transport capacity of Cyt b6f is down-regulated by ,pH-dependent photosynthetic control; Rubisco is synthesized in excess, and the number of activated Rubisco molecules is controlled by photosystem I-related processes. Consequently, the nitrogen contained in the components of the photosynthetic machinery is not used at full efficiency. The strong correlation between leaf nitrogen and photosynthetic performance is not due to the nitrogen requirements of the photosynthetic apparatus, but because a certain amount of energy must be captured through photosynthesis to maintain this nitrogen within a leaf. [source]


Adjustment of leaf photosynthesis to shade in a natural canopy: reallocation of nitrogen

PLANT CELL & ENVIRONMENT, Issue 3 2005
H. EICHELMANN
ABSTRACT The present study was performed to investigate the adjustment of the constituents of the light and dark reactions of photosynthesis to the natural growth irradiance in the leaves of an overstorey species, Betula pendula Roth, a subcanopy species Tilia cordata P. Mill., and a herb Solidago virgaurea L. growing in a natural plant community in Järvselja, Estonia. Shoots were collected from the site and properties of individual leaves were measured in a laboratory, by applying a routine of kinetic gas exchange and optical measurements that revealed photosystem II (PSII), photosystem I (PSI), and cytochrome b6f densities per leaf area and the distribution of excitation (or chlorophyll, Chl) between the two photosystems. In parallel, N, Chl and ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase (Rubisco) content was measured from the same leaves. The amount of N in photosynthetic proteins was calculated from the measured contents of the components of the photosynthetic machinery. Non-photosynthetic N was found as the residual of the budget. Growth in shade resulted in the decrease of leaf dry mass to a half of the DW in sun leaves in each species, but the total variation, from the top to the bottom of the canopy, was larger. Through the whole cross-section of the canopy, leaf dry weight (DW) and Rubisco content per area decreased by a factor of four, N content by a factor of three, but Chl content only by a factor of 1.7. PSII density decreased by a factor of 1.9, but PSI density by a factor of 3.2. The density of PSI adjusted to shade to a greater extent than the density of PSII. In shade, the distribution of N between the components of the photosynthetic machinery was shifted toward light-harvesting proteins at the expense of Rubisco. Non-photosynthetic N decreased the most substantially, from 54% in the sun leaves of B. pendula to 11% in the shade leaves of T. cordata. It is concluded that the redistribution of N toward light-harvesting Chl proteins in shade is not sufficient to keep the excitation rate of a PSII centre invariant. Contrary to PSII, the density of PSI , the photosystem that is in immediate contact with the carbon assimilation system , shade-adjusts almost proportionally with the latter, whereas its Chl antenna correspondingly increases. Even under N deficiency, a likely condition in the natural plant community, a substantial part of N is stored in non-photosynthetic proteins under abundant irradiation, but much less under limiting irradiation. At least in trees the general sequence of down-regulation due to shade adjustment is the following: (1) non-protein cell structures and non-photosynthetic proteins; (2) carbon assimilation proteins; (3) light reaction centre proteins, first PSI; and (4) chlorophyll-binding proteins. [source]


Variable photosynthetic acclimation in consecutive cohorts of Scots pine needles during 3 years of growth at elevated CO2 and elevated temperature

PLANT CELL & ENVIRONMENT, Issue 5 2003
E.-M. LUOMALA
ABSTRACT In this experiment, the photosynthetic acclimation of successive needle cohorts of Scots pine were studied during 3 years of growth at elevated CO2 and temperature. Naturally regenerated Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) trees were subjected to elevated CO2 concentration (+CO2, 700 p.p.m), elevated temperature (+T, ambient +2 to +6 °C) and to a combination of elevated CO2 and temperature (+CO2 + T) in closed-top chambers, starting in August 1996. Trees growing in chambers with ambient CO2 and ambient temperature served as controls (AmbC). Elevated CO2 influenced the dark reactions more than the light reactions of photosynthesis, as in the 1996 and 1997 cohorts the carboxylation capacity of Rubisco was reduced in the first and second year of exposure, but there was no consistent change in chlorophyll fluorescence. Net photosynthesis measured at growth concentration of CO2 was higher at +CO2 than at AmbC on only one measuring occasion, was generally lower at +T and was not changed at +CO2 + T. However, trees grown at +T tended to invest more nitrogen (N) in Rubisco, as Rubisco/chlorophyll and the proportion of the total needle N bound to Rubisco occasionally increased. The interaction of +CO2 and +T on Rubisco was mostly negative; consequently, in the second and third year of the experiment the carboxylation capacity decreased at +CO2 + T. In the 1996, 1997 and 1998 cohorts, the structural N concentration of needles was lower at +CO2 than at AmbC. Elevated CO2 and elevated temperature generally had a positive interaction on N concentration; consequently, N concentration in needles decreased less at +CO2 + T than at +CO2. At +CO2 + T, the acclimation response of needles varied between years and was more pronounced in the 1-year-old needles of the 1997 cohort than in those of the 1998 cohort. Thus, acclimation was not always greater in 1-year-old needles than in current-year needles. In the +CO2 + T treatment, elevated temperature had a greater effect on acclimation of needles than elevated CO2. [source]