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Plant Physiology 44:1619-1628 (1969)
© 1969 American Society of Plant Biologists

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Articles

Nonphotosynthetic Retardation of Chloroplast Senescence by Light 1

Alan H. Haber, Paula J. Thompson, Patricia L. Walne and Larry L. Triplett

Biology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830, Department of Botany, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37916

Excised apical portions of green wheat leaf sections were treated with aminotriazole to prevent formation of new chloroplasts. Illumination retarded the decline in chlorophyll content per leaf section, the disintegration of chloroplast ultrastructure, and the loss of capacity for photosynthetic carbon fixation. We interpret these 3 effects of illumination as facets of a single light effect in retarding chloroplast senescence. This light effect in retarding chloroplast senescence has features differing from characteristics of photosynthetic carbon fixation. For example, A) application of the photosynthetic inhibitor 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1, 1-dimethylurea did not decrease, and may have even slightly increased, the effectiveness of light; B) although the action spectrum contains peaks in the blue and red regions, it differs from the action spectrum for photosynthetic CO2 assimilation in wheat; C) in nonphotosynthesizing tissue, application of sugars did not retard chloroplast senescence; D) light saturation was achieved by only a few hundred microwatts/cm2. Considered together with the well-known light requirement for chloroplast formation, our results indicate that light has a dual, photomorphogenetic control in maintaining the green status of the plant by also exerting a second effect: retarding of senescence of chloroplasts already present.

1 Research sponsored by the United States Atomic Energy Commission under contract with the Union Carbide Corporation.






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Copyright © 1969 by the American Society of Plant Biologists