MadSci Network: Biochemistry |
I think you'd need to see how photosynthesis depends on the wavelength of light used. You could try this with whole leaves, or whole plants, which I think would be quite simple, or you could do some very tricky isolation of the chloroplasts and monitor their activity. The response of photosynthesis to light of various wavelngths is called the photosynthetic action spectrum. Action spectrum diagram http://www.rrz.uni- hamburg.de/biologie/b_online/e24/2.htm Another version of the spectrum is here: http://www.rrz.uni- hamburg.de/biologie/b_online/e24/24.htm The discussion is more detailed, though; but there's much history as well. Notes on the general topic http://www.sprl.umich.edu/GCL/Notes-1999- Fall/respir_photosyn.html Some investigations are noted at the end of this bulletin. It might be worth getting in touch with the authors. http://w ww.pkal.org/faculty/f21/pubs/thisweek/01_25_00.html A practical experiment, but nothing about how to get chloroplasts for it: http://www.msu.ed u/course/lbs/145/luckie/Lab3.html This is not quite an answer to your question! It's terribly tricky to isolate photosynthetic systems so I don't recommend trying to separate the different pigments. Without chlorophyll, photosynthesis will not work at all so the effect of the accessory pigments will always be superimposed on the underlying chlorophyll processes. Ewen McLaughlin
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