Genetic autonomy and low singlet oxygen yield support kleptoplast functionality in photosynthetic sea slugs.

The kleptoplastic sea slug Elysia chlorotica consumes Vaucheria litorea, stealing its plastids, which then photosynthesize inside the animal cells for months. We investigated the properties of V. litorea plastids to understand how they withstand the rigors of photosynthesis in isolation.

Unresolved quenching mechanisms of chlorophyll fluorescence may invalidate MT saturating pulse analyses of photosynthetic electron transfer in microalgae.

Chlorophyll a fluorescence is a powerful tool for estimating photosynthetic efficiency, but there are still unanswered questions that hinder the use of its full potential. The present results describe a caveat in estimation of photosynthetic performance with so-called rapid light curves (RLCs) with pulse amplitude modulation fluorometers. RLCs of microalgae show a severe decrease in photosynthetic performance in high light, although a similar decrease cannot be seen with other methods.

Degradation of chlorophyll and synthesis of flavonols during autumn senescence-the story told by individual leaves.

Autumn senescence of deciduous trees is characterized by chlorophyll degradation and flavonoid synthesis. In the present study, chlorophyll and flavonol contents were measured every morning and evening during the whole autumn with a non-destructive method from individual leaves of , , and . In most of the studied trees, the chlorophyll content of each individual leaf remained constant until a phase of rapid degradation commenced.