Abstract
THE effects of photosynthetically active light on carbon loss by plants are attracting much attention1,2, but light action through mechanisms other than photosynthesis, though demonstrated as early as 1954 (ref. 3), is usually ignored in discussions of metabolic inefficiencies. Nevertheless, dim red light acting through phytochrome can clearly regulate the time course of CO2 output in axenic cultures of Lemna perpusilla. The precise pattern of output under a given light schedule depends on the nitrogen source supplied; on nitrate or ammonium, the main daily peak seems to be timed in the same manner as some aspects of the photoperiodic control of flowering4–6. Essentially parallel results on O2 uptake are reported here, indicating that the phenomena in question are respiratory in a reasonably strict sense.
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HILLMAN, W. Control of plant respiration through non-photosynthetic light action. Nature 266, 833–835 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/266833a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/266833a0
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