Action spectrum for a low intensity, rapid photoinhibition of mechanically stimulable bioluminescence in the marine dinoflagellates Gonyaulax catenella, G. acatenella, and G. tamarensis
✍ Scribed by Wayne E. Esaias; Herbert C. Curl Jr.; Howard H. Seliger
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1973
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 737 KB
- Volume
- 82
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0021-9541
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✦ Synopsis
Abstract
The mechanically stimulable bioluminescence of members of the Gonyaulax catenella group can be maximally photoinhibited by exposure to as few as 10^13^ quanta/cm^2^, a factor 10^4^ times smaller than that required for comparable photoinhibition in Gonyaulax polyedra and all other photosynthetic bioluminescent dinoflagellates investigated. Following an irradiation pulse there is an initial time lag of one minute, followed by a rapid decrease in mechanical stimulability to approximately 1% of the dark unirradiated control with a firstorder rate constant as high as 0.01 sec^−1^. Action spectra for all three species imply a pigment with a single absorption band having a maximum at 562 nm and a half band width of 105 nm within the spectral range 325 nm to 775 nm. Photoinhibition appears to decrease either the sensitivity of the shear receptor mechanism or the efficiency of signal transmission in the dinoflagellates, since chemically stimulable bioluminescence is unaffected by these exposures.