Premium
THE MECHANISM OF DELAYED LIGHT PRODUCTION BY PHOTOSYNTHETIC ORGANISMS AND A NEW EFFECT OF ELECTRIC FIELDS ON CHLOROPLASTS * , ‡
Author(s) -
ARNOLD WILLIAM,
AZZI JIM
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
photochemistry and photobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.818
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1751-1097
pISSN - 0031-8655
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-1097.1971.tb06169.x
Subject(s) - photosynthesis , physics , chloroplast , electron , oxygen evolution , fluorescence , chemical physics , chemistry , atomic physics , optics , biology , botany , nuclear physics , electrochemistry , quantum mechanics , biochemistry , electrode , gene
— Green plants, after illumination, emit light at times far too long to be fluorescence. This delayed light is closely connected with the process of photosynthesis and seems to be one of the few ways of studying the first steps in that process. In this paper we argue that there are at least 3 or maybe 4 mechanisms producing delayed light. (1) The delayed light in the range of 1–100 msec seems to come from the recombination of electrons and holes. The photosynthetic unit must absorb 2 quanta for this process. (2) At longer times the delayed light can come from thermal fluctuations lifting an electron from the level of ferredoxin to that of chlorophyll. The unit need only absorb 1 light quantum for this kind of delayed light. (3) Similarly, a part of the long‐time delayed light comes from the untrapping of holes. (4) A part of the delayed light emitted at times longer than a few minutes seems to involve molecular oxygen. Finally, we shall describe a new phenomenon involving the effect of electric fields on chloroplasts, that we feel will be helpful in understanding the untrapping mechanisms of delayed light production.