Light/Dark Modulation of Enzyme Activity in Photosynthesis

Abstract

In photosynthetic species ranging from cyanobacteria to higher plants, many enzymes are light modulated. Most of the known light modulated enzymes are chloroplastic. Four mechanisms of modulation have been proposed. One function of light modulation is probably the autocatalytic build-up of reductive pentose phosphate cycle intermediates during the induction period of photosynthetic CO₂ fixation.