In C(3) plants, CO(2) assimilation is limited by ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) regeneration rate at high CO(2). RuBP regeneration rate in turn is determined by either the chloroplast electron transport capacity to generate NADPH and ATP or the activity of Calvin cycle enzymes involved in regeneration of RuBP. Here, transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum 'W38') expressing an antisense gene dir...

Primary production (PP) in the English Channel was measured using (13)C uptake and compared to the electron transport rate (ETR) measured using PAM (pulse amplitude modulated fluorometer). The relationship between carbon incorporation (P(obs)) and ETR was not linear but logarithmic. This result can be explained by alternative electron sinks at high irradiance which protect the phytoplankton fro...

Photosynthesis produces chemical energy from photon energy in the photosynthetic electron transport and assimilates CO2 using the chemical energy. Thus, CO2 limitation causes an accumulation of excess energy, resulting in reactive oxygen species (ROS) which can cause oxidative damage to cells. O2 can be used as an alternative energy sink when oxygenic phototrophs are exposed to high light. Here...

Photosynthetic electron transport directly generates the energy required for carbon fixation and thus underlies the aerobic metabolism of aquatic systems. We determined photosynthetic electron turnover rates, ETRs, from ca. 100 FRR fluorescence water-column profiles throughout the subtropical and tropical Atlantic during six Atlantic Meridional Transect cruises (AMT 6, May–June 1998, to AMT 11,...

Genetic improvement of photosynthetic performance of cereal crops and increasing the efficiency with which solar radiation is converted into biomass has recently become a major focus for crop physiologists and breeders. The pulse amplitude modulated chlorophyll fluorescence technique (PAM) allows quantitative leaf level monitoring of the utilization of energy for photochemical light conversion ...

Stressful episodic weather is likely to affect the C balance of trees as the climate changes, potentially altering survival. However, the role of elevated CO2 concentration ([CO2]) in tolerating off-season episodic extremes is not clear. We tested for interactive effects of elevated CO2 and springtime heat stress on photosynthesis for seven genotypes of Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh. var. cama...

Iron availability directly affects photosynthesis and limits phytoplankton growth over vast oceanic regions. For this reason, the availability of iron is a crucial variable to consider in the development of active chlorophyll a fluorescence based estimates of phytoplankton primary productivity. These bio-optical approaches require a conversion factor to derive ecologically-relevant rates of CO2...

Distylium chinense is an evergreen shrub used for the vegetation recovery of floodplain and riparian areas in Three Gorges Reservoir Region. To clarify the morphological and physiological responses and tolerance of Distylium chinense to off-season flooding, a simulation flooding experiment was conducted during autumn and winter. Results indicated that the survival rate of seedlings was 100%, an...

Cyclic electron transport around photosystem I (PS I) was discovered more than a half-century ago and two pathways have been identified in angiosperms. Although substantial progress has been made in understanding the structure of the chloroplast NADH dehydrogenase-like (NDH) complex, which mediates one route of the cyclic electron transport pathways, its physiological function is not well under...

Second year needles of Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta L.) were exposed for 6 weeks to either simulated control summer ['summer'; 25 °C/250 photon flux denisty (PFD)], autumn ('autumn'; 15°C/250 PFD) or winter conditions ('winter'; 5 °C/250 PFD). We report that the proportion of linear electron transport utilized in carbon assimilation (ETR(CO2)) was 40% lower in both 'autumn' and 'winter' pine ...