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Inhibition of Photosynthesis by Cyanide

Abstract

IN some organisms, for example, Chlorella, photosynthesis at high intensity of light and high concentrations of carbon dioxide is inhibited almost completely by concentrations of cyanide which do not inhibit the endogenous respiration1. The inhibition is smaller at lower light intensities1,2. Therefore, it has been suggested that cyanide inhibits a dark process in photosynthesis, such as the dark fixation of carbon dioxide which has been shown to be strongly inhibited by cyanide3. The possibility remains that the fixation of carbon dioxide is not the only cyanidesensitive reaction in photosynthesis.

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References

  1. Warburg, O., Biochem. Z., 100, 230 (1919).

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  2. Wassinck, E., Vermeulen, D., Reman, G. H., and Katz, E., Enzymologia, 5, 100 (1938).

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  3. Gaffron, H., Fager, E. W., and Rosenberg, J. L., Symp. Soc. Exp. Biol., 5, 262 (1951).

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  4. Briggs, G. E., and Whittingham, C. P., New Phytol. (in the press).

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WHITTINGHAM, C. Inhibition of Photosynthesis by Cyanide. Nature 169, 838–839 (1952). https://doi.org/10.1038/169838a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/169838a0

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