Characteristics of chlorophyll fluorescence in the light-adapted state as indicators of plant leaf relative water content.
- 1Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering University of Missouri Columbia Missouri USA.
- 2School of IOT Jiangnan University Wuxi Jiangsu China.
- 3Division of Plant Science and Technology University of Missouri Columbia Missouri USA.
Abstract
Chlorophyll fluorescence (ChlF) in the light-adapted state is a convenient indicator of plant water status but is heavily reliant on nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ). The usefulness of ChlF as an indicator can be enhanced by reducing NPQ effects. ChlF and relative water content (RWC) were measured from leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana and Spinacia oleracea while the leaf samples progressively lost water. ChlF characteristics were then reformulated and tested as indicators of RWC via regression analysis. We demonstrate that measured NPQ varies and is by itself not a consistent indicator of RWC of plant leaves. Using NPQ as a scaler in ChlF-based photochemical efficiency measures resulted in two NPQ-adjusted ChlF characteristics as indicators of RWC: photosystem II photochemical quenching (PSII PQ) and an NPQ-scaled PSII photochemical efficiency (Y(II)') measure. The results were experimentally demonstrated in A. thaliana, then validated in A. thaliana with varied illumination intensities, and finally validated in another plant (S. oleracea). Further analysis revealed a linear correlation between steady-state ChlF (Fs ) and maximum fluorescence (Fm') across different RWCs and a time constant to account for the NPQ effect. This research shows that ChlF characteristics are affected by NPQ during water loss and that adjusting PSII efficiency measures based on NPQ provides enhanced effectiveness in indicating plant water status.
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BibTeX
@article{chen2026characteristics,
title = {{Characteristics of chlorophyll fluorescence in the light-adapted state as indicators of plant leaf relative water content.}},
author = {Junqing Chen and Lijiang Fu and Ya Guo and Felix B Fritschi and Jinglu Tan},
journal = {Applications in plant sciences},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1002/aps3.70090},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42996669},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Characteristics of chlorophyll fluorescence in the light-adapted state as indicators of plant leaf relative water content.
AU - Junqing Chen
AU - Lijiang Fu
AU - Ya Guo
AU - Felix B Fritschi
AU - Jinglu Tan
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/05
JO - Applications in plant sciences
DO - 10.1002/aps3.70090
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42996669
AB - Chlorophyll fluorescence (ChlF) in the light-adapted state is a convenient indicator of plant water status but is heavily reliant on nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ). The usefulness of ChlF as an indicator can be enhanced by reducing NPQ effects. ChlF and relative water content (RWC) were measured from leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana and Spinacia oleracea while the leaf samples progressively lost water. ChlF characteristics were then reformulated and tested as indicators of RWC via regression analysis. We demonstrate that measured NPQ varies and is by itself not a consistent indicator of RWC of plant leaves. Using NPQ as a scaler in ChlF-based photochemical efficiency measures resulted in two NPQ-adjusted ChlF characteristics as indicators of RWC: photosystem II photochemical quenching (PSII PQ) and an NPQ-scaled PSII photochemical efficiency (Y(II)') measure. The results were experimentally demonstrated in A. thaliana, then validated in A. thaliana with varied illumination intensities, and finally validated in another plant (S. oleracea). Further analysis revealed a linear correlation between steady-state ChlF (Fs ) and maximum fluorescence (Fm') across different RWCs and a time constant to account for the NPQ effect. This research shows that ChlF characteristics are affected by NPQ during water loss and that adjusting PSII efficiency measures based on NPQ provides enhanced effectiveness in indicating plant water status.
SN - 2168-0450
ER -