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Photosynthetic acclimation of higher plants to growth in fluctuating light environments

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Abstract

This paper describes a study into the potential of plants to acclimate to light environments that fluctuate over time periods between 15 min and 3 h. Plants of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh., Digitalis purpurea L. and Silene dioica (L.) Clairv. were grown at an irradiance 100 μmol m-2 s-1. After 4–6 weeks, they were transferred to light regimes that fluctuated between 100 and either 475 or 810 μmol m-2 s-1, in a regular cycle, for 7 days. Plants were shown, in most cases, to be able to undergo photosynthetic acclimation under such conditions, increasing maximum photosynthetic rate. The extent of acclimation varied between species. A more detailed study with S. dioica showed that this acclimation involved changes in both Rubisco protein and cytochrome f content, with only marginal changes in pigment content and composition. Acclimation to fluctuating light, at the protein level, did not fully reflect the acclimation to continuous high light - Rubisco protein increased more than would be expected from the mean irradiance, but less than expected from the high irradiance; cytochrome f increased when neither the mean nor the high irradiance would be expected to induce an increase.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, 3.614 Stopford Building, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK

    Zu-Hua Yin & Giles N. Johnson

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  1. Zu-Hua Yin
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  2. Giles N. Johnson
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Yin, ZH., Johnson, G.N. Photosynthetic acclimation of higher plants to growth in fluctuating light environments. Photosynthesis Research 63, 97–107 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006303611365

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006303611365

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