Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Photoreceptors and Plant Responses to Light

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

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...

Biological Clocks and Seasonal Responses

Biological Clocks and Seasonal Responses

The circadian—or biological—clock is an intrinsic, timekeeping, molecular mechanism that allows plants to coordinate physiological activities over 24-hour cycles called circadian rhythms. Photoperiodism is a collective term for the biological responses of plants to variations in the relative lengths of dark and light periods. The period of light-exposure is called the photoperiod.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Computational model of flower pattern evolution predicts spontaneous emergence of boundary cell types across the petal epidermis.

Development (Cambridge, England)·2026

Same author

Replicated repurposing of an ancestral transcriptional complex in land plants.

Current biology : CB·2026

Same author

Colloidal Deacetylation of Chitin Nanocrystals Results in Amorphous and Patchy Chitosan Chains.

ACS nano·2026

Same author

Nudibranch color diversity shares a common physical basis in guanine photonic structure 'pixels'.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026

Same author

Genome Assemblies of the Daisy Gorteria diffusa Elucidate the Molecular-Genomic Basis of Pollination by Sexual Deception.

Genome biology and evolution·2026

Same author

Protocol for the quantitative imaging and segmentation of spatial patterns in Hibiscus trionum petals.

STAR protocols·2026

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 9, 2026

Analysis of Arabidopsis thaliana Growth Behavior in Different Light Qualities

Analysis of Arabidopsis thaliana Growth Behavior in Different Light Qualities

Published on: February 2, 2018

Analysing photonic structures in plants.

Silvia Vignolini¹, Edwige Moyroud, Beverley J Glover

¹Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK. sv319@cam.ac.uk

Journal of the Royal Society, Interface

|July 26, 2013

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Plant structures like petals and leaves create bright, structural colors using microscopic multilayers and diffraction gratings, not pigments. Analyzing these photonic structures reveals their underlying physical mechanisms for vibrant optical effects.

Keywords:

iridescence multilayer interference plant cuticle spectroscopy structural colour in plants

More Related Videos

High-Throughput Analysis of Non-Photochemical Quenching in Crops Using Pulse Amplitude Modulated Chlorophyll Fluorometry

High-Throughput Analysis of Non-Photochemical Quenching in Crops Using Pulse Amplitude Modulated Chlorophyll Fluorometry

Published on: July 6, 2022

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 9, 2026

Analysis of Arabidopsis thaliana Growth Behavior in Different Light Qualities

Analysis of Arabidopsis thaliana Growth Behavior in Different Light Qualities

Published on: February 2, 2018

High-Throughput Analysis of Non-Photochemical Quenching in Crops Using Pulse Amplitude Modulated Chlorophyll Fluorometry

High-Throughput Analysis of Non-Photochemical Quenching in Crops Using Pulse Amplitude Modulated Chlorophyll Fluorometry

Published on: July 6, 2022

Area of Science:

Plant biology
Optics
Materials science

Background:

Plant outer layers (petals, leaves, fruits) display diverse microscopic structures.
Some structures, like periodic multilayers and diffraction gratings, produce unique optical properties.
Structural coloration in plants is often brighter than pigment-based coloration.

Purpose of the Study:

To describe the primary types of photonic structures in plants.
To discuss experimental methods for analyzing these plant photonic structures.
To identify the physical mechanisms responsible for structural colors in plants.

Main Methods:

Microscopic analysis of plant tissues.
Optical characterization techniques.
Physical mechanism identification through experimental approaches.

Main Results:

Identification of key photonic structures in various plant tissues.
Demonstration of experimental approaches for analyzing these structures.
High-confidence identification of physical mechanisms behind structural coloration.

Conclusions:

Plant photonic structures are crucial for generating bright, structural colors.
Experimental analysis enables confident understanding of these optical mechanisms.
This research provides a framework for studying plant structural coloration.