1998; Adir et al. 2003). This adaptation could be provided by plants at different levels of light conversion and energy flux through the electron transport chain. In the present study, we have made photosynthesis measurements, accompanied by extensive measurements on chlorophyll a fluorescence (ChlF), and, then, we analyzed the latter to obtain detailed information on primary events and electron transport (see e.g., Papageorgiou and Govindjee 2004) in sun and shade barley leaves. EPZ015938 Most of the earlier studies on sun and shade leaves had used mainly the saturation pulse analysis (Bradbury and Baker 1981; Schreiber 1986);

in this work, however, we have included the analysis of polyphasic fast ChlF kinetics (Strasser et al. 1995) that has provided

new information on differences in sun and shade leaves. The O–J–I–P Vorinostat transient [O being the minimal fluorescence (F 0), J and I are inflections; and P is the peak, equivalent to F m], observed clearly when plotted on a logarithmic time scale, was analyzed. The F 0 to F m kinetics can be divided into three rise phases: O–J (0–2 ms), J–I (2–30 ms), and I–P (30–300 ms) (Neubauer and Schreiber 1987; Strasser and Govindjee 1991; Stirbet and Govindjee 2011). When using the phase amplitude modulation (PAM) technique (Schreiber 1986), fluorescence rise after a saturating pulse is observed as a simple spike. According to the widely accepted interpretation, first proposed by Duysens and Sweers (1963), the fluorescence rise from F 0 to F m reflects the reduction of QA, the first PQ electron acceptor of PSII. On the basis of this simple

model, more complex mathematical models have been built, including that for the analysis of OJIP transient (Strasser et al. 1995, 2004), well known as “the JIP-test.” In this test the major inflection points of the fast fluorescence induction curve are used for the calculation of various parameters characterizing the structure and photochemical activity of photosynthetic samples. Although there are some limitations due to the use of a number of approximations (cf. Stirbet and Govindjee 2011), practical use of the model has clearly demonstrated that it can explain and predict the performance of photosynthetic Resminostat samples under several conditions, especially when it is used in parallel with other techniques (Stirbet and Govindjee 2012; Kalaji et al. 2012). The mathematical analysis of fast chlorophyll induction, if properly used, brings additional information and hence, it enables researchers to investigate more precisely the function of PSII and its responses to changes in environmental and growth conditions (Strasser et al. 2000, 2004; Force et al. 2003; Zivcak et al. 2008; Repkova et al. 2008; Goltsev et al. 2012; Kalaji et al. 2011, 2012; this website Brestic and Zivcak 2013).