Thermoluminescence studies on spinach leaves and euglena

Abstract

Spinach leaves and Euglena cells when frozen in light to 77 K emit light during slow warming in the dark to give 6 peaks. The peak appearing at 118 K is observed even after DCMU or heat treatment and also in aged chloroplasts that are inactive in electron transport. The data indicate that peaks appearing at 261 and 321 K are due to back reactions of primary acceptors of PS II and PS I respectively with oxidized chlorophylls. The DCMU sensitivity of Tl peaks at 283 and 298 K suggests that they are associated with the flow of electrons between PS II and PS I. Evidence has been presented to show that the PS 1 chlorophylls are involved in part of the luminescence observed during the temperature rise. A mechanism involving the return of the thermally detrapped electrons to the ground state of chlorophylls through their excited states has been proposed to explain some of the Tl peaks.