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The long‐wavelength limit of plant photosynthesis
Author(s) -
Pettai Hugo,
Oja Vello,
Freiberg Arvi,
Laisk Agu
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/j.febslet.2005.04.088
Subject(s) - photosynthesis , wavelength , photosystem ii , quantum yield , photosystem i , sunflower , excitation , yield (engineering) , chemistry , photochemistry , physics , biophysics , botany , biology , optics , horticulture , fluorescence , quantum mechanics , thermodynamics
It is a common knowledge that the photosynthesis efficiency drops rapidly under the long‐wavelength light excitation above 680 nm. We discovered that in sunflower leaves attached to the plant the initial fall is replaced by an unexpected increase at much longer wavelengths, so that a detectable O 2 evolution is remained till 780 nm. The quantum yield of O 2 evolution at the local maximum at 745 nm reaches almost 20% of the yield at 650 nm. We conclude that extreme long‐wavelength chlorophylls may be present in the intact photosystem II antenna system, similarly to photosystem I.