Evaluation of light emitting diode characteristics for a space-based plant irradiation source

Light emitting diodes (LEDs) are a promising irradiation source for plant growth in space. Improved semiconductor technology has yielded LED devices fabricated with gallium aluminum arsenide (GaAlAs) chips which have a high efficiency for converting electrical energy to photosynthetically active radiation. Specific GaAlAs LEDs are available that emit radiation with a peak wavelength near the spectral peak of maximum quantum action for photosynthesis. The electrical conversion efficiency of installed systems (micromole s-1 of photosynthetic photons per watt) of high output LEDs can be within 10% of that for high pressure sodium lamps. Output of individual LEDs were found to vary by as much as 55% from the average of the lot. LED ratings, in mcd (luminous intensity per solid angle), were found to be proportional to total photon output only for devices with the same dispersion angle and spectral peak. Increasing current through the LED increased output but also increased temperature with a consequent decrease in electrical conversion efficiency. A photosynthetic photon flux as high as 900 micromoles m-2 s-1 has been produced on surfaces using arrays with LEDs mounted 7.6 mm apart, operating as a current of 50 mA device-1 and at an installed density of approximately 17,200 lamps m-2 of irradiated area. Advantages of LEDs over other electric light sources for use in space systems include long life, minimal mass and volume and being a solid state device.

Electron and proton transport across the plasma membrane

Transplasm membrane electron transport in both plant and animal cells activates proton release. The nature and components of the electron transport system and the mechanism by which proton release is activated remains to be discovered. Reduced pyridine nucleotides are substrates for the plasma membrane dehydrogenases. Both plant and animal membranes have unusual cyanide-insensitive oxidases so oxygen can be the natural electron acceptor. Natural ferric chelates or ferric transferrin can also act as electron acceptors. Artificial, impermeable oxidants such as ferricyanide are used to probe the activity. Since plasma membranes contain b cytochromes, flavin, iron, and quinones, components for electron transport are present but their participation, except for quinone, has not been demonstrated. Stimulation of electron transport with impermeable oxidants and hormones activates proton release from cells. In plants the electron transport and proton release is stimulated by red or blue light. Inhibitors of electron transport, such as certain antitumor drugs, inhibit proton release. With animal cells the high ratio of protons released to electrons transferred, stimulation of proton release by sodium ions, and inhibition by amilorides indicates that electron transport activates the Na+/H+ antiport. In plants part of the proton release can be achieved by activation of the H+ ATPase. A contribution to proton transfer by protonated electron carriers in the membrane has not been eliminated. In some cells transmembrane electron transport has been shown to cause cytoplasmic pH changes or to stimulate protein kinases which may be the basis for activation of proton channels in the membrane. The redox-induced proton release causes internal and external pH changes which can be related to stimulation of animal and plant cell growth by external, impermeable oxidants or by oxygen.

The role of plasma membrane redox activity in light effects in plants

Stimulations by light of electron transport at the plasma membrane make it possible that redox activity is involved in light-induced signal transduction chains. This is especially true in cases where component(s) of the chain are also located at the plasma membrane. Photosynthetic reactions stimulate transplasma membrane redox activity of mesophyll cells. Activity is measured as a reduction of the nonpermeating redox probe, ferricyanide. The stimulation is due to production of a cytosolic electron donor from a substance(s) transported from the chloroplast. It is unknown whether the stimulation of redox activity is a requirement for other photosynthetically stimulated processes at the plasma membrane, but a reduced intermediate may regulate proton excretion by guard cells. Blue light induces an absorbance change (LIAC) at the plasma membrane whose difference spectrum resembles certain b-type cytochromes. This transport of electrons may be due to absorption of light by a flavoprotein. The LIAC has been implicated as an early step in certain blue light-mediated morphogenic events. Unrelated to photosynthesis, blue light also stimulates electron transport at the plasma membrane to ferricyanide. The relationship between LIAC and transmembrane electron flow has not yet been determined, but blue light-regulated proton excretion and/or growth may depend on this electron flow. No conclusions can be drawn regarding any role for phytochrome because of a paucity of information concerning the effects of red light on redox activity at the plasma membrane.

Expression of a gene for a light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b-binding protein in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: effect of light and acetate

In Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, the chlorophyll a/b-binding proteins of photosystem II are encoded in the nucleus by a small family of genes. We have studied the expression of one gene, which we call cabII-1, in a green-in-the-dark strain, which can synthesize chlorophyll in the dark or light, and in a yellow-in-the-dark mutant strain, which is able to make chlorophyll only in the light. In light/dark synchronized cultures of both strains, cabII-1 mRNA abundance increases during the first 6 h of a 12-h light phase, remains high for several hours, then declines. A variety of illumination conditions have been used to analyze the cabII-1 mRNA increase: continuous or intermittent red, blue, or white light, with or without 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea (DCMU), an inhibitor of photosystem II. Our results suggest that light induces increased cabII-1 transcript abundance in two ways: 1) by virtue of its role in the light reactions of photosynthesis and 2) by a blue lightstimulated mechanism which is independent of photosynthesis.We have also examined the role of acetate in regulating cabII-1 mRNA levels in the dark. In both green- and yellow-in-the-dark strains, 15 mM Na-acetate, added to synchronized cells in the dark, induces an increase in cabII-1 mRNA abundance with a temporal accumulation pattern very similar to that induced by continuous white light. We suggest that by providing an energy source, acetate stimulates cellular growth, cell cycle progression, and increased cabII-1 mRNA abundance. Interestingly, in cells exposed to light, acetate inhibits the light-induced increase in cabII-1 mRNA abundance by a mechanism which is not yet understood.