biologia plantarum

International journal on Plant Life established by Bohumil Němec in 1959

Biologia plantarum 51:799-800, 2007 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-007-0164-z

Are red leaves photosynthetically active?

F. Pomar1, A. Ros Barceló2,*
1 Centro de Investigaciones Agrarias de Mabegondo, La Coruña, Spain
2 Department of Plant Biology (Plant Physiology), University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain

At irradiances close to those representing a sunny day, red and green leaves of poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) showed only minor differences in their photosynthetic capacities despite the strong differences in their pigment composition. However, contrarily to green leaves, red leaves did not show inhibition of photosynthesis at high irradiances, because anthocyanins protected chloroplasts from photoinhibition.

Keywords: anthocyanins; chlorophyll fluorescence; Euphorbia; photochemical and non-photochemical quenching; photosystem 2; poinsettia
Subjects: anthocyanins; chlorophyll fluorescence; Euphorbia pulcherima; photochemical efficiency, quenching; photosystems 1,2; poinsettia

Received: November 1, 2005; Accepted: June 2, 2006; Published: December 1, 2007  Show citation

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Pomar, F., & Ros Barceló, A. (2007). Are red leaves photosynthetically active? Biologia plantarum, 51(4), 799-800. doi: 10.1007/s10535-007-0164-z
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