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A new setup for in vivo fluorescence imaging of photosynthetic activity

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Abstract

Here, we describe a new imaging setup able to assess in vivo photosynthetic activity. The system specifically measures time-resolved chlorophyll fluorescence in response to light. It is composed of a fast digital camera equipped with a wide-angle lens for the analysis of samples up to 10 × 10 cm, i.e. entire plants or petri dishes. In the choice of CCD, we have opted for a 12-bits high frame rate [150 fps (frames per second)] at the expense of definition (640 × 480 pixels). Although the choice of digital camera is always a compromise between these two related features, we have designed a flexible system allowing the fast sampling of images (down to 100 μs) with a maximum spatial resolution. This image readout system, synchronized with actinic light and saturating pulses, allows a precise determination of F 0 and F M, which is required to monitor PSII activity. This new imaging system, together with image processing techniques, is useful to investigate the heterogeneity of photosynthetic activity within leaves or to screen large numbers of unicellular algal mutant colonies to identify those with subtle changes in photosynthetic electron flow.

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Abbreviations

CCD:

Charge-coupled device

Pixel:

Picture element

LED:

Light-emitting diode

cyt:

Cytochrome

PSI:

Photosystem I

PSII:

Photosystem II

PQ:

Plastoquinone

PQH2 :

Plastoquinol

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Acknowledgements

The authors are indebted to Catherine de Vitry for the SUIV and CF0ß antibodies and to David Stern for the kind gift of iniD mutants. Financial support is acknowledged from Fondation Pierre-Gilles de Gennes pour la recherche and Agence Nationale pour la Recherche ANR-08-BIOE-002 ALGOMICS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique, UMR 7141, CNRS et Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI), 13 rue Pierre et Marie Curie, 75005, Paris, France

    Xenie Johnson, Guillaume Vandystadt, Sandrine Bujaldon, Francis-André Wollman, Jean Alric & Daniel Béal

  2. Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la ville de Paris (ESPCI-Paristech), Laboratoire d’Electronique (UMR CNRS 7084), 75231, Paris Cedex 05, France

    Rémi Dubois & Pierre Roussel

  3. Fondation Pierre-Gilles de Gennes pour la Recherche, 29 rue d’Ulm, 75005, Paris, France

    Xenie Johnson, Rémi Dubois, Pierre Roussel & Jean Alric

Authors
  1. Xenie Johnson
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  2. Guillaume Vandystadt
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  3. Sandrine Bujaldon
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  4. Francis-André Wollman
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  5. Rémi Dubois
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  6. Pierre Roussel
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  7. Jean Alric
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  8. Daniel Béal
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jean Alric.

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Supplementary material [The animated version of Figure 3B is available as a movie (mpeg 1 format).] (MPEG 1684 kb)

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Johnson, X., Vandystadt, G., Bujaldon, S. et al. A new setup for in vivo fluorescence imaging of photosynthetic activity. Photosynth Res 102, 85–93 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-009-9487-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-009-9487-2

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