Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 8, 2026

05:34
Analysis of Arabidopsis thaliana Growth Behavior in Different Light Qualities
Published on: February 2, 2018
Abscission: quantification of light control
1Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003.
Plant Physiology
|October 1, 1983
Abstract:
Low level red light treatments prevented dark-induced leaf abscission in mung bean (Vigna radiata L. Wilczek cv Jumbo) cuttings. The amount of inhibition depended upon the level and length of the light treatment. The red light inhibition could be reversed by a brief exposure of tissue to far-red light.
Related Concept Videos
Light Acquisition
In order to produce glucose, plants need to capture sufficient light energy. Many modern plants have evolved leaves specialized for light acquisition. Leaves can be only millimeters in width or tens of meters wide, depending on the environment. Due to competition for sunlight, evolution has driven the evolution of increasingly larger leaves and taller plants, to avoid shading by their neighbors with contaminant elaboration of root architecture and mechanisms to transport water and nutrients.
Photoreceptors and Plant Responses to Light
Light plays a significant role in regulating the growth and development of plants. In addition to providing energy for photosynthesis, light provides other important cues to regulate a range of developmental and physiological responses in plants.
The Antenna Complex
Plants and other photosynthetic organisms comprise pigments capable of absorption of direct sunlight. These pigments are present in the reaction center - the main site of photochemical reactions as well as in the antenna complex. Under average light conditions, the rate at which reaction center pigments absorb light is far below the electron transport chain's capacity. As a result, the reaction center alone cannot provide enough energy to drive photosynthesis. The photosynthetic efficiency can...

