Slow induction of chlorophyll a fluorescence excited by blue and red light in Tradescantia leaves acclimated to high and low light

Tradescantia is a good model for assaying induction events in higher plant leaves. Chlorophyll (Chl) fluorescence serves as a sensitive reporter of the functional state of photosynthetic apparatus in chloroplasts. The fluorescence time-course depends on the leaf growth conditions and actinic light quality. In this work, we investigated slow induction of Chl a fluorescence (SIF) excited by blue light (BL, λ max = 455 nm) or red light (RL, λ max = 630 nm) in dark-adapted leaves of Tradescantia fluminensis acclimated to high light (~ 1000 µmol photons m −2 s −1 ; HL) or low light (~ 100 µmol photons m −2 s −1 ; LL). Our special interest was focused on the contribution of the avoidance response to SIF kinetics. Bearing in mind that BL and RL have different impacts on photoreceptors that initiate chloroplast movements within the cell ( accumulation / avoidance responses), we have compared the SIF patterns during the action of BL and RL. The time-courses of SIF and kinetics of non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) of Chl a fluorescence revealed a certain difference when leaves were illuminated by BL or RL. In both cases, the yield of fluorescence rose to the maximal level P and then, after the lag-phase P–S–M 1 , the fluorescence level decreased toward the steady state T (via the intermediate phases M 1 –M 2 and M 2 –T). In LL-acclimated leaves, the duration of the P–S–M 1 phase was almost two times longer that in HL-grown plants. In the case of BL, the fluorescence decay included the transient phase M 1 –M 2 . This phase was obscure during the RL illumination. Non-photochemical quenching of Chl a fluorescence has been quantified as NPQ = F m 0 / F m ′ - 1 , where F m 0 and F m ′ stand for the fluorescence response to saturating pulses of light applied to dark-adapted and illuminated samples, respectively. The time-courses of such a formally determined NPQ value were markedly different during the action of RL and BL. In LL-grown leaves, BL induced higher NPQ as compared to the action of RL. In HL-grown plants, the difference between the NPQ responses to BL and RL illumination was insignificant. Comparing the peculiarities of Chl a fluorescence induced by BL and RL, we conclude that the avoidance response can provide a marked contribution to SIF and NPQ generation. The dependence of NPQ on the quality of actinic light suggests that chloroplast movements within the cell have a noticeable impact on the formally determined NPQ value. Analyzing kinetics of post-illum