Abstract
The development of economical LED technology has enabled the application of different light qualities and quantities to control plant growth. Although we have a comprehensive understanding of plants' perception of red and blue light, the lack of a dedicated green light sensor has frustrated our utilization of intermediate wavelengths, with many contradictory reports in the literature. We discuss the contribution of red and blue photoreceptors to green light perception and highlight how green light can be used to improve crop quality. Importantly, our meta-analysis demonstrates that green light perception should instead be considered as a combination of distinct 'green' and 'yellow' light-induced responses. This distinction will enable clearer interpretation of plants' behaviour in response to green light as we seek to optimize plant growth and nutritional quality in horticultural contexts.
Highlights
The development of economical LED technology has enabled the application of different light qualities and quantities to control plant growth
Our current understanding relies on the residual perception of these wavelengths by primarily red and blue photoreceptors, along with metabolic signals arising from photosynthesis
Characterized photoreceptor families include the red(600–700 nm) and far-red- (700–780 nm) responsive phytochromes, the blue light- (400–500 nm) sensitive cryptochromes, phototropins, and the ZEITLUPE family (ZEITLUPE, FLAVIN-BINDING KELCH REPEAT F-BOX1, and LOV KELCH PROTEIN2), as well as the UV-B (280–320 nm) receptor ULTRAVIOLET RESISTANCE LOCUS 8 (UVR8; Whitelam and Halliday, 2007). the green region of the spectrum is absorbed relatively effectively by plant leaves, the absorbance spectra of Chl a and b are notably lower in green regions of the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) spectrum than in red and blue regions (Smith et al, 2017)
Summary
Photoreceptor sensitivity is defined by the biochemical context of the associated chromophore and can span several of the colours distinguished by human perception (Fig. 1). Whilst there are competing hypotheses regarding the nature of the cryptochrome photocycle, it is apparent that photoexcitation by blue light excites the FAD chromophore into an intermediate form (FADH·) that is able to absorb broad-spectrum green light (Kottke et al, 2006; Bouly et al, 2007; Liu et al, 2010) This transition provides a mechanism by which green light could be perceived, it should be noted that the dark-adapted chromophore has the potential to absorb shorter wavelengths of green light (depending on its precise oxidation status in vivo). It appears that green light is perceived by multiple, interconnected photoreceptor inputs to initiate a subset of photomorphogenic responses in response to illumination
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