REDOX PROCESSES IN THE BLUE-LIGHT RESPONSE OF GUARD-CELL PROTOPLASTS OF COMMELINA-COMMUNIS L

Guard cell protoplasts from Commelina communis L. illuminated with red light responded to a blue light pulse by an H+ extrusion which lasted for about 10 minutes. This proton extrusion was accompanied by an O2 uptake with a 4H+ to O2 ratio. The response to blue light was nil in darkness without a preillumination period of red light and increased with the duration of the red light illumination until about 40 minutes. However, acidification in response to a pulse of blue light was obtained in darkness when external NADH (1 millimolar) was added to the incubation medium, suggesting that redox equivalents necessary for the expression of the response to blue light in darkness may be supplied via red light. In accordance with this hypothesis, the photosystem II inhibitor 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea (10 micromolar) decreased the acidification in response to blue light more efficiently when it was added before red light illumination than before the blue light pulse. In the presence of hexacyanoferrate, the acidification in response to a blue light pulse was partly inhibited (53% of control), suggesting a competition for reducing power between ferricyanide reduction and the response to blue light.