Quantum Requirement in Photosynthesis and the Effect of Light Quality on Photosynthetic Product Distribution

摘要

Among the various hypotheses concerning the photochemical reactions, there are two major ones. They are the 'photolyt' hypothesis proposed by Warburg and the 'two light reactions' hypothesis based on the Hill-Bendall scheme of photoelectron transport. The two hypotheses have different assumptions with regard to the course of primary photochemical reactions. They differ in several aspects of photosynthesis--e.g., the origin of the oxygen evolved, the value of quantum requirement, and the generation of assimilatory power. A portion of the report is devoted to the discussion of these two hypotheses. Experiments are described which were designed to verify the validity of these two hypotheses. However, a comparison between the results of the various experiments showed inconsistency. This apparent inconsistency was subsequently investigated.