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The New Phytologist Apr 2023Although leaves are considered the main site for photosynthesis, other green nonfoliar tissues can carry out considerable amounts of photosynthetic carbon assimilation.... (Review)
Review
Although leaves are considered the main site for photosynthesis, other green nonfoliar tissues can carry out considerable amounts of photosynthetic carbon assimilation. With photosynthesis, a potential target for improving crop productivity, physiology and contribution of nonfoliar tissues to overall plant carbon acquisition is gaining increasing attention. This review will provide an overview of nonfoliar photosynthesis, the role of stomata in these tissues and methodologies for quantification and the contribution to overall carbon gain.
Topics: Plant Stomata; Carbon Dioxide; Plant Leaves; Photosynthesis; Carbon
PubMed: 36509710
DOI: 10.1111/nph.18671 -
The Biochemical Journal Oct 2019In nature, light availability for photosynthesis can undergo massive changes on a very short timescale. Photosynthesis in such dynamic light environments requires that... (Review)
Review
In nature, light availability for photosynthesis can undergo massive changes on a very short timescale. Photosynthesis in such dynamic light environments requires that plants can respond swiftly. Expanding our knowledge of the rapid responses that underlie dynamic photosynthesis is an important endeavor: it provides insights into nature's design of a highly dynamic energy conversion system and hereby can open up new strategies for improving photosynthesis in the field. The present review focuses on three processes that have previously been identified as promising engineering targets for enhancing crop yield by accelerating dynamic photosynthesis, all three of them involving or being linked to processes in the chloroplast, i.e. relaxation of non-photochemical quenching, Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle enzyme activation/deactivation and dynamics of stomatal conductance. We dissect these three processes on the functional and molecular level to reveal gaps in our understanding and critically discuss current strategies to improve photosynthesis in the field.
Topics: Chloroplasts; Environment; Light; Photosynthesis; Plants
PubMed: 31654058
DOI: 10.1042/BCJ20190134 -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Apr 2014Providing an adequate quantity and quality of food for the escalating human population under changing climatic conditions is currently a great challenge. In outdoor... (Review)
Review
Providing an adequate quantity and quality of food for the escalating human population under changing climatic conditions is currently a great challenge. In outdoor cultures, sunlight provides energy (through photosynthesis) for photosynthetic organisms. They also use light quality to sense and respond to their environment. To increase the production capacity, controlled growing systems using artificial lighting have been taken into consideration. Recent development of light-emitting diode (LED) technologies presents an enormous potential for improving plant growth and making systems more sustainable. This review uses selected examples to show how LED can mimic natural light to ensure the growth and development of photosynthetic organisms, and how changes in intensity and wavelength can manipulate the plant metabolism with the aim to produce functionalized foods.
Topics: Agriculture; Energy Metabolism; Light; Lighting; Models, Biological; Photosynthesis; Plant Development
PubMed: 24591723
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2013.0243 -
The New Phytologist Jan 2019Contents Summary 32 I. The importance of plant carbon metabolism for climate change 32 II. Rising atmospheric CO2 and carbon metabolism 33 III. Rising temperatures and... (Review)
Review
Contents Summary 32 I. The importance of plant carbon metabolism for climate change 32 II. Rising atmospheric CO2 and carbon metabolism 33 III. Rising temperatures and carbon metabolism 37 IV. Thermal acclimation responses of carbon metabolic processes can be best understood when studied together 38 V. Will elevated CO2 offset warming-induced changes in carbon metabolism? 40 VI. No plant is an island: water and nutrient limitations define plant responses to climate drivers 41 VII. Conclusions 42 Acknowledgements 42 References 42 Appendix A1 48 SUMMARY: Plant carbon metabolism is impacted by rising CO concentrations and temperatures, but also feeds back onto the climate system to help determine the trajectory of future climate change. Here we review how photosynthesis, photorespiration and respiration are affected by increasing atmospheric CO concentrations and climate warming, both separately and in combination. We also compile data from the literature on plants grown at multiple temperatures, focusing on net CO assimilation rates and leaf dark respiration rates measured at the growth temperature (A and R , respectively). Our analyses show that the ratio of A to R is generally homeostatic across a wide range of species and growth temperatures, and that species that have reduced A at higher growth temperatures also tend to have reduced R , while species that show stimulations in A under warming tend to have higher R in the hotter environment. These results highlight the need to study these physiological processes together to better predict how vegetation carbon metabolism will respond to climate change.
Topics: Acclimatization; Carbon; Carbon Dioxide; Climate Change; Photosynthesis; Plant Transpiration; Plants; Temperature
PubMed: 29983005
DOI: 10.1111/nph.15283 -
Cells Dec 2022Photosynthesis is a unique process that has shaped life on our planet and created the conditions for all known life forms [...].
Photosynthesis is a unique process that has shaped life on our planet and created the conditions for all known life forms [...].
Topics: Photosynthesis; Stress, Physiological
PubMed: 36552717
DOI: 10.3390/cells11243953 -
International Journal of Molecular... Feb 2023Photosynthesis is a process that provides the continuous income of energy needed to sustain life on our planet [...].
Photosynthesis is a process that provides the continuous income of energy needed to sustain life on our planet [...].
Topics: Photosynthesis
PubMed: 36901785
DOI: 10.3390/ijms24054355 -
The New Phytologist Feb 2020Oxygenic phototrophs have played a fundamental role in Earth's history by enabling the rise of atmospheric oxygen (O ) and paving the way for animal evolution.... (Review)
Review
Oxygenic phototrophs have played a fundamental role in Earth's history by enabling the rise of atmospheric oxygen (O ) and paving the way for animal evolution. Understanding the origins of oxygenic photosynthesis and Cyanobacteria is key when piecing together the events around Earth's oxygenation. It is likely that photosynthesis evolved within bacterial lineages that are not extant, so it can be challenging when studying the early history of photosynthesis. Recent genomic and molecular evolution studies have transformed our understanding about the evolution of photosynthetic reaction centres and the evolution of Cyanobacteria. The evidence reviewed here highlights some of the most recent advances on the origin of photosynthesis both at the genomic and gene family levels.
Topics: Biological Evolution; Cyanobacteria; Oxygen; Photosynthesis; Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex Proteins; Protein Conformation
PubMed: 31598981
DOI: 10.1111/nph.16249 -
FEMS Microbiology Reviews Mar 2018The origin and early evolution of photosynthesis are reviewed from an ecophysiological perspective. Earth's first ecosystems were chemotrophic, fueled by geological H2... (Review)
Review
The origin and early evolution of photosynthesis are reviewed from an ecophysiological perspective. Earth's first ecosystems were chemotrophic, fueled by geological H2 at hydrothermal vents and, required flavin-based electron bifurcation to reduce ferredoxin for CO2 fixation. Chlorophyll-based phototrophy (chlorophototrophy) allowed autotrophs to generate reduced ferredoxin without electron bifurcation, providing them access to reductants other than H2. Because high-intensity, short-wavelength electromagnetic radiation at Earth's surface would have been damaging for the first chlorophyll (Chl)-containing cells, photosynthesis probably arose at hydrothermal vents under low-intensity, long-wavelength geothermal light. The first photochemically active pigments were possibly Zn-tetrapyrroles. We suggest that (i) after the evolution of red-absorbing Chl-like pigments, the first light-driven electron transport chains reduced ferredoxin via a type-1 reaction center (RC) progenitor with electrons from H2S; (ii) photothioautotrophy, first with one RC and then with two, was the bridge between H2-dependent chemolithoautotrophy and water-splitting photosynthesis; (iii) photothiotrophy sustained primary production in the photic zone of Archean oceans; (iv) photosynthesis arose in an anoxygenic cyanobacterial progenitor; (v) Chl a is the ancestral Chl; and (vi), anoxygenic chlorophototrophic lineages characterized so far acquired, by horizontal gene transfer, RCs and Chl biosynthesis with or without autotrophy, from the architects of chlorophototrophy-the cyanobacterial lineage.
Topics: Archaea; Biological Evolution; Cyanobacteria; Photosynthesis; Pigments, Biological
PubMed: 29177446
DOI: 10.1093/femsre/fux056 -
The New Phytologist Jan 2019Contents Summary 93 I. Introduction 93 II. Influence of the speed of g responses on A and W 93 III. Determinants of the rapidity of g responses 95 IV. Conclusion 97... (Review)
Review
Contents Summary 93 I. Introduction 93 II. Influence of the speed of g responses on A and W 93 III. Determinants of the rapidity of g responses 95 IV. Conclusion 97 Acknowledgements 97 References 97 SUMMARY: Stomatal movements control CO uptake for photosynthesis and water loss through transpiration, and therefore play a key role in plant productivity and water use efficiency. The predicted doubling of global water usage by 2030 mean that stomatal behaviour is central to current efforts to increase photosynthesis and crop yields, particularly under conditions of reduced water availability. In the field, slow stomatal responses to dynamic environmental conditions add a temporal dimension to gaseous fluxes between the leaf and atmosphere. Here, we review recent work on the rapidity of stomatal responses and present some of the possible anatomical and biochemical mechanisms that influence the rapidity of stomatal movements.
Topics: Photosynthesis; Plant Physiological Phenomena; Plant Stomata; Water
PubMed: 29987878
DOI: 10.1111/nph.15330 -
The New Phytologist Oct 2022The current definition of photosynthetically active radiation includes only photons from 400 up to 700 nm, despite evidence of the synergistic interaction between...
The current definition of photosynthetically active radiation includes only photons from 400 up to 700 nm, despite evidence of the synergistic interaction between far-red photons and shorter-wavelength photons. The synergy between far-red and shorter-wavelength photons has not been studied in sunlight under natural conditions. We used a filter to remove photons above 700 nm to quantify the effects on photosynthesis in diverse species under full sun, medium light intensity and vegetation shade. Far-red photons (701 to 750 nm) in sunlight are used efficiently for photosynthesis. This is especially important for leaves in vegetation shade, where far-red photons can be > 50% of the total incident photons between 400 and 750 nm. Far-red photons accounted for 24-25% of leaf gross photosynthesis (P ) in a C and a C species when sunlight was filtered through a leaf, and 10-14% of leaf P in a tree and an understory species in deep shade. Accounting for the photosynthetic activity of far-red photons is critical for accurate measurement and modeling of photosynthesis at single leaf, canopy and ecosystem scales. This, in turn, is crucial in understanding crop productivity, the global carbon cycle and climate change impacts on agriculture and ecosystems.
Topics: Ecosystem; Light; Photosynthesis; Plant Leaves; Sunlight
PubMed: 35832002
DOI: 10.1111/nph.18375