Pigment composition and photosynthetic activity of pea chlorophyll mutants

Abstract

Pea chlorophyll mutants chlorotica 2004 and 2014 have been studied. The mutants differ from the initial form (pea cultivar Torsdag) in stem and leaf color (light green in the mutant 2004 and yellow-green in the mutant 2014), relative chlorophyll content (approximately 80 and 50%, respectively), and the composition of carotenoids: the mutant 2004 contains a significantly smaller amount of carotene but accumulates more lutein and violaxanthine; in the mutant 2014, the contents of all carotenoids are decreased proportionally to the decrease in chlorophyll content. It is shown that the rates of CO2 assimilation and oxygen production in the mutant chlorotica 2004 and 2014 plants are reduced. The quantum efficiency of photosynthesis in the mutants is 29-30% lower than in the control plants; in their hybrids, however, it is 1.5-2 higher. It is proposed that both the greater role of dark respiration in gas exchange and the reduced photosynthetic activity in chlorotica mutants are responsible for the decreased phytomass increment in these plants. On the basis of these results, the conclusion is drawn that the mutations chlorotica 2004 and 2014 affect the genes controlling the formation and functioning of various components of the photosynthetic apparatus.