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Light environment within a leaf. II. Progress in the past one-third century

  • JPR Symposium
  • Responses of the Photosynthetic Systems to Spatio-temporal Variations in Light Environments: Scaling and Eco-devo Approaches
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Abstract

Studies directly related to light environments within a leaf, conduced mainly in the past one-third century, are reviewed. In particular, studies that revealed the profiles of light absorption and photosynthetic capacity are highlighted. Progress in this research field has been accelerated by devising innovative techniques. Roles of the main photosynthetic tissues, the palisade and spongy tissues, as the light guide and diffuser, respectively, are discussed. When the leaf is illuminated with diffuse light, light is absorbed more by the chloroplasts located near the illuminated surface. The meanings of the occupation of the mesophyll surfaces facing the intercellular spaces by chloroplasts and chloroplast movement are also discussed. The discrepancy between the light absorption profile and that of photosynthetic capacity is examined most intensively.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to dedicate this review article to late Professor Jan Anderson who passed away on 28 August 2015. She revealed the relationship between structure and functions of thylakoids. We thank Dr. Tom Vogelmann, Dr. Hiroyuki Muraoka, and Dr. Hibiki Noda-Muraoka for their useful and encouraging comments on the manuscript. Our studies have been supported by several grants form the Moritani Foundation, Yamada Science Foundation, and the Ministry of Eduation, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan, for these 20 years.

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  1. Department of Biological Sciences, School of Science, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan

    Terashima Ichiro, Ooeda Hiroki & Fujita Takashi

  2. Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, 6-3 Aoba, Sendai, 980-8578, Japan

    Oguchi Riichi

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  1. Terashima Ichiro
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Correspondence to Terashima Ichiro.

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Ichiro, T., Hiroki, O., Takashi, F. et al. Light environment within a leaf. II. Progress in the past one-third century. J Plant Res 129, 353–363 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-016-0808-1

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