Become A Wiser, More Profitable Investor

✅   Metabolite profiling reveals slow and uncoordinated adjustment of C4 photosynthesis to sudden changes in irradiance

science

In the field plants continually experience changes in irradiance. Research in C3 species has revealed that whilst the Carbon-Benson cycle (CBC) adjusts rapidly to changing irradiance, there is substantial loss of photosynthesis efficiency due to slow adjustment of energy dissipation and stomatal conductance. Less is known about the impact of changing irradiance on photosynthetic efficiency in C4 species. We have subjected maize to a sudden increase or decrease of irradiance in the non-saturating range and performed time-resolved measurement of photosynthetic rate and profiling of metabolites from the CBC, the CO2-concentrating mechanism (CCM), photorespiration and end-product biosynthesis. After a decrease in irradiance, photosynthesis is transiently buffered by energy delivered by transformations in the large pools of metabolites that ...

BioRxiv     Apr 19, 2025