An Explanation for the Difference in Photosynthetic Capabilities of Healthy and Beet Yellows Virus-infected Sugar Beets (Beta vulgaris L.)

Sugar beets (Beta vulgaris L.) infected with the Beet Yellows Virus exhibit lower rates of net photosynthesis at light saturation than do healthy plants. These Pn reductions were correlated with increases in leaf resistance to water vapor loss. Theoretical analyses demonstrated that, although the leaf resistance to water vapor loss increases could account for a major part of the net photosynthesis decreases, some other aspect of leaf functioning also was debilitated by infection. Both the levels and the activities of ribulose-1, 5-diP carboxylase were less on a leaf area basis in extracts from infected leaves than from healthy ones. Soluble carbohydrates accumulate in Beet Yellows Virus-infected leaves, but inhibiting translocation in several ways provided no evidence in support of the hypothesis that the accumulation of photosynthates in leaves has a direct, short term, feed-back effect upon the photosynthetic rate.