Simultaneous Measurements of Steady State Chlorophyll a Fluorescence and CO2 Assimilation in Leaves: The Relationship between Fluorescence and Photosynthesis in C3 and C4 Plants

摘要

Rates of CO2 assimilation and steady state chlorophyll a fluorescence were measured simultaneously at different intercellular partial pressures of CO2 in attached cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L. cv Deltapine 16) leaves at 25°C. Electron transport activity for CO2 assimilation plus photorespiration was calculated for these experiments. Under light saturating (1750 microeinsteins per square meter per second) and light limiting (700 microeinsteins per square meter per second) conditions there was a good correlation between fluorescence and the calculated electron transport activity at 19 and 200 millibars O2, and between fluorescence and rates of CO2 assimilation at 19 millibars but not 200 millibars O2. The values of fluorescence measured at about 220 microbars intercellular CO2 were not greatly affected by increasing O2 from 19 to 800 millibars. Fluorescence increased with light intensity at any one intercellular CO2 partial pressure. But the values obtained for fluorescence, expressed as a ratio of the maximum fluorescence obtained in DCMU-treated tissue, over the same range of CO2 partial pressure at 500 microeinsteins per square meter per second were similar to those obtained at 1000 and 2000 microeinsteins per square meter per second. There were two phases in the observed correlation between fluorescence and calculated electron transport activity: an initial inverse relationship at low CO2 partial pressures which reversed to a positive correlation at higher values of CO2 partial pressures. Similar results were observed in the C3 species Helianthus annuus L., Phaseolus vulgaris L., and Brassica chinensis. In all C4 species (Zea mays L., Sorghum bicolor L., Panicum maximum Jacq., Amaranthus edulis Speg., and Echinochloa frumentacea [Roxb.] Link) examined changes in fluorescence were directly correlated with changes in CO2 assimilation rates. The nature and the extent to which Q (primary quencher) and high-energy state (qE) quenching function in determining the steady state fluorescence obtained during photosynthesis in leaves is discussed.