In addition to photosynthetic phosphorylation recent work has also provided direct experimental evidence (10-14) for the often asserted but never previously demonstrated capacity of isolated chloroplasts to assimilate CO2 photosynthetically to the level of carbohydrates. CO2 assimilation by isolated chloroplasts was found to be a dark process (15) dependent on a photochemically generated “assim...

Plants use diffuse light more efficiently than direct light, which is well established due to diffuse light penetrates deeper into the canopy and photosynthetic rate of a single leaf shows a non-linear response to the light flux density. Diffuse light also results in a more even horizontal and temporal light distribution in the canopy, which plays substantial role for crop photosynthesis enhanc...

Experiments on photosynthesis in intermittent light have been made on two occasions. Brown and Escombe, in 1905, made use of a rotating sector to study the effect of light intensity on the photosynthesis of leaves. They found three-quarters of the light from a given source could be cut out in each revolution of the sector without decreasing the rate of photosynthesis. Willst~itter (1918, p. 240...

Using intact cells of Chlorella pyrenoidosa it is possible to obtain oxygen by the reduction of certain reducible materials other than carbon dioxide. Of these, benzaldehyde was studied in some detail. This reduction does not involve the production of carbon dioxide from the benzaldehyde. Stoichiometrical relationships as expressed by the following equation: 2C(6)H(5)CHO + 2H(2)O --> 2C(6)H(5)C...

C4 photosynthesis evolved independently numerous times, probably in response to declining atmospheric CO2 concentrations, but also to high temperatures and aridity, which enhance water losses through transpiration. Here, the environmental factors controlling stomatal behaviour of leaf-level carbon and water exchange were examined across the evolutionary continuum from C3 to C4 photosynthesis at...

The purpose of this research was to determine the magnitude of photorespiration in field-grown cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) as a function of environmental and plant-related factors. Photorespiration rates were estimated as the difference between measured gross and net photosynthetic rates.A linear increase in photorespiration was observed as air temperature increased from 22 to 40 degrees C a...

A well-known case of evolutionary adaptation is that of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (RubisCO), the enzyme responsible for fixation of CO2 during photosynthesis. Although the majority of plants use the ancestral C3 photosynthetic pathway, many flowering plants have evolved a derived pathway named C4 photosynthesis. The latter concentrates CO2, and C4 RubisCOs consequently have lower sp...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS In crops other than sugarcane there is good evidence that the size and activity of carbon sinks influence source activity via sugar-related regulation of the enzymes of photosynthesis, an effect that is partly mediated through coarse regulation of gene expression. METHODS In the current study, leaf shading treatments were used to perturb the source-sink balance in 12-month...

Grasses using the C(4) photosynthetic pathway dominate grasslands and savannahs of warm regions, and account for half of the species in this ecologically and economically important plant family. The C(4) pathway increases the potential for high rates of photosynthesis, particularly at high irradiance, and raises water-use efficiency compared with the C(3) type. It is therefore classically viewe...