On the Estimation of the Partial Quantum Yields for phytochrome photoconversion by a nonlinear least‐squares method

Abstract

AbstractA nonlinear least‐squares method is presented which enables the estimation of the partial quantum yields of a photoreversible two component system by fitting the corresponding kinetic equation directly to experimentally measured data.The principles of this method are discussed with reference to the photochromic transformation of phytochrome as an adequate model. It is demonstrated that this method yields sufficiently accurate and highly reliable results.In addition, the advantage of the nonlinear least‐squares method when compared with the so‐called formal integration method and with the initial rate approach is emphasized.