|
|||||
|
|
Three‐dimensional microscale modelling of CO2 transport and light propagation in tomato leaves enlightens photosynthesis |
|
| Authors: | Quang Tri Ho Herman N. C. Berghuijs Rodrigo Watté Pieter Verboven Els Herremans Xinyou Yin Moges A. Retta Ben Aernouts Wouter Saeys Lukas Helfen Graham D. Farquhar Paul C. Struik Bart M. Nicolaï |
| Affiliation: | 1. Flanders Center of Postharvest Technology/BIOSYST‐MeBioS, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium;2. Centre for Crop Systems Analysis, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands;3. BioSolar Cells, Wageningen, The Netherlands;4. Laboratory for Application of Synchrotron Radiation/ANKA, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany;5. ESRF ‐ The European Synchrotron, CS40220, Grenoble Cedex 9, France;6. Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia |
| Abstract: | We present a combined three‐dimensional (3‐D) model of light propagation, CO2 diffusion and photosynthesis in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) leaves. The model incorporates a geometrical representation of the actual leaf microstructure that we obtained with synchrotron radiation X‐ray laminography, and was evaluated using measurements of gas exchange and leaf optical properties. The combination of the 3‐D microstructure of leaf tissue and chloroplast movement induced by changes in light intensity affects the simulated CO2 transport within the leaf. The model predicts extensive reassimilation of CO2 produced by respiration and photorespiration. Simulations also suggest that carbonic anhydrase could enhance photosynthesis at low CO2 levels but had little impact on photosynthesis at high CO2 levels. The model confirms that scaling of photosynthetic capacity with absorbed light would improve efficiency of CO2 fixation in the leaf, especially at low light intensity. |
| Keywords: | 3‐D model photon transport gas diffusion photosynthetic capacity synchrotron radiation X‐ray computed laminography tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) |