36.2: Photoreceptors and Plant Responses to Light

Light plays a significant role in regulating the growth and development of plants. In addition to providing energy for photosynthesis, light provides other important cues to regulate a range of developmental and physiological responses in plants.

What Is a Photoreceptor?

Plants respond to light using a unique set of light-sensitive proteins called photoreceptors. Photoreceptors contain photopigments, which consist of a protein component bound to a non-protein, light-absorbing pigment called the chromophore. There are several different types of photoreceptors, which vary in their amino acid sequences and the type of chromophore present. These types maximally respond to different specific wavelengths of light, ranging from ultraviolet B (280-315 nanometers) to far-red (700-750 nanometers). The chromophore's absorption of light elicits structural changes in the photoreceptor, triggering a series of signal transduction events that result in gene expression changes.

The Phytochrome System

Many types of photoreceptors are present in plants. Phytochromes are a class of photoreceptors that sense red and far-red light. The phytochrome system acts as a natural light switch, allowing plants to respond to the intensity, duration, and color of environmental light.

The phytochrome system plays a significant role in photomorphogenesis—the growth and development of plants in response to light. Bright sunlight contains more red light than far-red light. Chlorophyll strongly absorbs red light, so shaded plant regions receive more far-red light than red light.

Plants use phytochromes to adapt their growth in response to red and far-red light. Exposure to far-red light in shaded regions triggers the elongation of stems and petioles in search of light. On the other hand, exposure to red wavelengths from unfiltered sunlight enhances lateral growth and branching.

When a seed germinates, the roots extend into the soil and the shoot towards the light. Plants also modify their growth to maximize light exposure. How do plants sense the direction and quality of light? 

Light-sensitive receptors, also called photoreceptors, mediate a plant’s response to light. Photoreceptors contain a protein component bound to a light-absorbing pigment called the chromophore. 

Plants may possess multiple families and variants of photoreceptors. Together, they respond to wavelengths of light ranging from ultraviolet to the far-red regions of the light spectrum. 

Each chromophore in a specific photoreceptor absorbs light of a particular wavelength, causing a structural change in the receptor. Activation of the photoreceptor triggers a signaling cascade within the plant cells. This, in turn, can lead to gene expression affecting plant growth and morphology.

For example, plants alter their growth in response to shade using the family of phytochrome photoreceptors. Each phytochrome has two distinct, interconvertible forms: the physiologically inactive Pr and the active Pfr. 

Pr absorbs red light and is quickly converted to the active Pfr form. Pfr absorbs far-red light and is converted back to the inactive Pr form.  The successive conversion of Pr and Pfr reaches a dynamic equilibrium in daylight.

Taller plants can filter the red light out of the light spectrum, leaving plants underneath with more far-red light than direct sunlight. The phytochrome system allows the plant to sense the ratio of red to far-red light and adjust its growth.