Photosynthetica - Ahead of Print
Photosynthetic characteristics of upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) recessive genic male sterile line YA-1 with virescent trait
N. YANG, X.X. LIU, X.P. ZHANG, H.Q. DENG, X.L. SHEN, C.M. TANG
Photosynthetica X:X | DOI: 10.32615/ps.2025.018 
The upland cotton strain YA-1 can be used for hybrid seed production and recurrent selection. However, the effect of YA-1 virescent phenotype on photosynthetic traits remains unclear. This study demonstrated that the chlorophyll and carotenoid contents, light-saturation point, light-compensation point, and PSⅡ reaction center activities are lower than those of green leaves of wide type. In contrast, light-energy utilization efficiencies, net photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, concentrations of Rubisco and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase, photosynthetic performance indices, and energy distribution parameters of the...
Leaf gas exchange and photosynthetic light-response curves of cassava genotypes under drought stress during the early growth stage and after recovery
K. VONGCHAROEN, S. SANTANOO, P. ITTIPONG, P. BANTERNG, N. VORASOOT, S. JOGLOY, P. THEERAKULPISUT
Photosynthetica X:X | DOI: 10.32615/ps.2025.021
This study aimed to gain insights into the photosynthesis capacity and genotypic differences in response to drought imposed at an early growth stage of cassava. Leaf water potential (LWP), leaf gas exchange, and photosynthetic light-response curves were investigated in six field-grown cassava genotypes under full irrigation and drought imposed for 60 d during 3-5 months after planting. During the drought period, mean LWP at predawn (LWPpre) was significantly lower than that in the control plants, while the mean midday LWP (LWPmid) was similar. During the drought period, the mean stomatal conductance was reduced from 0.36 to...
Variations in the photoprotective responses of trees and seedlings of the endangered Pitavia punctata (Ruiz & Pav.) Molina
S. ESPINOZA, D. MUÑOZ-CONCHA
Photosynthetica X:X | DOI: 10.32615/ps.2025.023
Pitavia punctata (Ruiz & Pav.) Molina ('Pitao') is an endangered species that regenerates under the shade. We monitored the photochemical efficiency of photosystem II in four localities spanning the geographical distribution of the species in Central Chile. Technical fluorescence parameters and JIP-test-derived parameters were measured in trees (up to 15 m) and seedlings (< 50 cm). We observed significant effects of the type of plant and locality on the performance index (PIABS) and maximum fluorescence (FM). PIABS was higher in trees from the Los Barros locality (PIABS = 41), whereas seedlings located...
In honor of Reto Jörg Strasser: A pioneer of chlorophyll a fluorescence research
A. STIRBET, G. GOVINDJEE, A. SRIVASTAVA
Photosynthetica X:X | DOI: 10.32615/ps.2025.024
Chlorophyll (Chl) a fluorescence measurements are widely used in the study of photosynthesis, and Reto Strasser is a well-known pioneer in this domain. In 2019, the current authors, together with Vineet Soni, and Neera Bhalla Sarin, celebrated his 75th birthday. Here, we pay tribute to him on his 82nd birthday through a brief description of the key results we had obtained with him, over the years, on the understanding and exploitation of the OJIP Chl a fluorescence transient. The topics of these studies have been quite diverse, from the oxygen clock, the bicarbonate effect in Photosystem II, the adaptability of...
A thank you note for Julian Eaton-Rye, the wonderful staff at Photosynthetica, and all the scientists who participated in the 2018 special issue
G. GOVINDJEE
Photosynthetica X:X | DOI: 10.32615/ps.2025.025
To express my heartfelt thanks, I briefly highlight, in this letter, research papers by all the scientists who were invited by Julian Eaton-Rye to commemorate my 85th birthday in Photosynthetica
Role of nitrogen utilization in facilitating photosynthetic compensation of soybean under vertically heterogeneous light
X.R. MA, X.M. SONG, E.Z. ZHANG, J.B. DU, X. SUN
Photosynthetica X:X | DOI: 10.32615/ps.2025.026
Photosynthetic compensation enables high-density planted crops to use the available light efficiently. However, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Herein, soybeans (Glycine max L. Merr.) were treated with vertically heterogeneous light (HL) to simulate the light conditions in high-density planting. The net photosynthetic rate (PN) increased in upper unshaded leaves (UL) while it decreased in lower shaded leaves (LL) under HL. This evident photosynthetic compensation was accompanied by a preferential distribution of N to UL. Correspondingly, the amounts of chlorophyll (Chl) and Rubisco increased in UL. At the...
LETTER TO THE EDITOR Cadmium and high light stress interactions highlight limits of PSII in Arabidopsis thaliana
R. SINGH
Photosynthetica X:X | DOI: 10.32615/ps.2025.027
Recently, Giordano et al. (2025) published an important article about the combinatory effect of cadmium (Cd) toxicity and high light stress on the photosynthetic performance in Arabidopsis thaliana. From this study, it was found that when A. thaliana is exposed to a higher concentration of Cd, three factors negatively impact the photosynthetic machinery of A. thaliana. There is compelling evidence that Cd contributes to the light stress experienced by A. thaliana, exacerbating it and thereby contributing to the three factors mentioned: impaired electron transport, elevated nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ), and a...
LETTER TO THE EDITOR Avoiding leakage when classifying drought stress from OJIP fluorescence - comment on Xia et al. (2025)
E.P. PASTORE
Photosynthetica X:X | DOI: 10.32615/ps.2025.031
Xia and colleagues report a support vector machine (SVM) classifier built on OJIP chlorophyll a fluorescence, aiming to distinguish four rice drought stress durations after dimensionality reduction with independent component analysis (ICA) (Xia et al. 2025). They obtain macro‑averaged accuracies approaching 0.89. The paper addresses an important applied problem, but several details in the design and evaluation make the reported performance difficult to interpret as out‑of‑sample predictive ability.