Abstract
In this brief account, I describe the background for dividing photosynthesis into “light” and “dark” reactions and show how this concept changed to “light” and “carbon” reactions as science in the field advanced.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Notes
An analysis with Google Ngram, which measures phrase frequencies within the books Google has digitized, indicated that use of the term “dark reactions” increased in the decades between 1940 and 1980 and then began a sharp decline—a trend that continues to the present. This result is in accord with the change in the description of photosynthesis that has been underway for the past several decades.
References
Bassham JA, Benson AA, Kay LD, Harris AZ, Wilson AT, Calvin M (1954) The path of carbon in photosynthesis. XXI. The cyclic regeneration of carbon dioxide acceptor. J Am Chem Soc 76:1760–1770. doi:10.1021/ja01636a012
Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (1980) Biological science: a molecular approach, 4th edn. D.C. Heath, Lexington
Blackman FF (1905) Optima and limiting factors. Ann Bot 19:281–295
Buchanan BB (1980) Role of light in the regulation of chloroplast enzymes. Annu Rev Plant Physiol 31:341–374. doi:10.1146/annurev.pp.31.060180.002013
Buchanan BB (2016) The path to thioredoxin and redox regulation. Annu Rev Plant Biol 67 (in the press)
Buchanan BB, Schürmann P, Wolosiuk RA, Jacquot JP (2002) The ferredoxin/thioredoxin system: from discovery to molecular structures and beyond. Photosynth Res 73:215–222. doi:10.1023/A:1020407432008
Buchanan BB, Gruissem W, Jones RL (eds) (2015) Biochemistry and molecular biology of plants, 2nd edn. Wiley Blackwell, Chichester
Cooper GM, Hasuman RE (2016) The cell. A molecular approach, 7th edn. Sinauer Associates, Sutherland
Miller ES, Burr GO (1935) Carbon dioxide balance at high light intensities. Plant Physiol 10:93–114. doi:10.1104/pp.10.1.93
Miller KR, Levine J (2016) Biology. Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River
Raven P, Johnson G, Mason K, Losos J, Singer S (2013) Biology, 10th edn. McGraw Hill, New York
Trebst AV, Tsujimoto HY, Arnon DI (1958) Separation of light and dark phases in photosynthesis of isolated chloroplasts. Nature 182:351–355. doi:10.1038/182351a0
Urry LA, Cain ML, Wasserman SA, Minorsky PV (2013) Campbell biology in focus. Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River
Warburg O (1919) Über die Geschwindigkeit der photochemischen Kohlensäurezersetzung in lebenden Zellen. Biochem Z 100:230–270. doi:10.1007/BF01486468
Acknowledgments
I thank Elliott Smith (University of California, Berkeley) for expert assistance in finalizing this article, including conducting the Google Ngram analysis. I am indebted to Katie Engen (American Society of Plant Biologists) for her help with some of the references.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Certain aspects of the history referred to herein were previously discussed in an article written with colleagues important in early research on the ferredoxin/thioredoxin system at Berkeley (Buchanan et al. 2002).
This article was invited, edited and accepted by Govindjee, Associate Editor (History & Biography) of Photosynthesis Research. Govindjee, however, points out that the only true “Light Reactions” are the two primary photochemical reactions that take place in the reaction centers of Photosystems I and II.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Buchanan, B.B. The carbon (formerly dark) reactions of photosynthesis. Photosynth Res 128, 215–217 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-015-0212-z
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-015-0212-z