Imaging of chlorophyll-a-fluorescence in leaves: Topography of photosynthetic oscillations in leaves of Glechoma hederacea

Images of chlorophyll-alpha-fluorescence oscillations were recorded using a camera-based fluorescence imaging system. Oscillations with frequencies around 1 per min were initiated by a transient decrease in light intensity during assimilation at an elevated CO2-concentration. The oscillation was inhomogenously distributed over the leaf. In cells adjacent to minor veins, frequency and damping rate was high, if there was any oscillation. In contrast, the amplitude was highest in cells most distant from phloem elements (maximal distance about 300 mu m). The appearance of minor veins in oscillation images is explained by a gradient in the metabolic control in the mesophyll between minor veins and by transport of sugar from distant cells to phloem elements. The potential of fluorescence imaging to visualize 'microscopic' source-sink interactions and metabolic domains in the mesophyll is discussed.