A large proportion of mutants with altered pigment features have been obtained via exposure to heavy-ion beams, a technique that is efficient for trait improvement in the breeding of plants and algae. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms by which the photosynthetic pigments are altered by heavy-ion irradiation. In our study, the photosynthetic characteristics of progenies fr...

Absorption spectra of several phytoplankton species were decomposed, after correction for the particle effect, to estimate in vivo absorption properties of the major light-harvesting pigments in algae. A Gaussian shape is suitable, theoretically and empirically, to represent the absorption spectra of individual photosynthetic components. The Gaussian parameters agreed well with the expected pig...

Solar radiation is the primary energy source for surface planetary life, so that pigments are fundamental components of any surface-dwelling organism. They may therefore have evolved in some form on Mars as they did on Earth. Photosynthetic microbes are major primary producers on Earth, but are concurrently vulnerable to ultraviolet (UV) damage. Using non-intrusive laser Raman spectroscopy to r...

Observations from a number of different experimental approaches have implicated cytochrome pigments in oxidation-reduction reactions resulting from the illumination of photosynthetic tissues (l-6). Possible relationships of these cytochromes to those of the respiratory chain pigments which react with oxygen in the dark have been considered. Vernon (7) isolated a soluble cytochrome in good yield...

The observation of long-lived electronic coherence in a photosynthetic pigment-protein complex, the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) complex, is suggestive that quantum coherence might play a significant role in achieving the remarkable efficiency of photosynthetic electronic energy transfer (EET), although the data were acquired at cryogenic temperature [Engel GS, et al. (2007) Evidence for wavelike...

Solar energy is the initial power of photosynthesis. Plants and algae cannot proceed in the absence of light, and limited light conditions will limit photosynthesis. However, the conversion of solar energy into chemical energy is a potentially hazardous business that photosynthetic organisms expertly master. Whenever sunlight can actually be converted to chemical energy, there is minimal potent...

Symbiotic dinoflagellates of the genus Symbiodinium and residing in the tropical hydroid Myrionema amboinense acclimate to low photon flux associated with low light 'shade' environments by increasing the amount of photosynthetic pigments per algal cell. The photosynthetic light intensity (PI) curves suggested that the low-light pigment response involved an increase in the number of photosynthet...

Drought is one of the main constraints determining forest species growth, survival and productivity, and therefore one of the main limitations for reforestation or afforestation. The aim of this study is to characterize the drought response at the physiological and molecular level of different Pinus halepensis (common name Aleppo pine) seed sources, previously characterized in field trials as d...

In this study, the role of salicylic acid pre-treatment (0.01, 0.1 mM was investigated)in inducing salt tolerance in sweet basil. Results showed germination percentage, length of shoot and root, fresh and dry weight of leaf, and photosynthetic pigments were decreased in response to high salinity but the lipid peroxidation, coefficient allometry, and soluble sugars increased. In plants pre-treat...

Flexibility of photosynthetic pigment traits is an important adaptive mechanism through which plants can increase mean fitness in a variable environment. Unlike morphological traits in plants, photosythesis has been shown to exhibit phenotypic plasticity, responding rapidly to environmental conditions. Meanwhile, local adaptation at small scales is considered to be rare. Thus, detecting the sma...