ReviewPhotosynthesis research2009
A viewpoint: why chlorophyll a?
Review in Photosynthesis research, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 78 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
78 citing papers in PubMed, 285 citations in OpenAlex.
- Physiological and transcriptomic analyses reveal that exogenous silicon alleviate the response of tomato to salt stress.Plant signaling & behavior · 2026Article
- De novo coassembly of functional chlorophyll- and carotenoid-protein complexes inScience advances · 2026Article
- The structural chemistry and biosynthesis of chlorophylls.RSC chemical biology · 2026Review
- Structure and Spectroscopy of Free Base, Copper, and Zinc Tetrapentylporphyrin.The journal of physical chemistry. A · 2026Article
- Photosynthesis under far-red light-evolutionary adaptations and bioengineering of light-harvesting complexes.FEBS letters · 2026Review
- Structure, regulation and assembly of the photosynthetic electron transport chain.Nature reviews. Molecular cell biology · 2025Review
- Acclimation to white light in a far-red light specialist: insights from Acaryochloris marina MBIC11017.The New phytologist · 2025Article
- Biodegradation, Bioassimilation and Recycling Properties of Wheat Gluten Foams.ACS agricultural science & technology · 2025Article
- Regulatory and retrograde signaling networks in the chlorophyll biosynthetic pathway.Journal of integrative plant biology · 2025Review
- DRB1 and DRB2 Are Required for an Appropriate miRNA-Mediated Molecular Response to Salt Stress inPlants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Enhancement of Rice Zinc Content Using Green Synthesized ZnO-NPs by Foliar and Nano-Priming Applications.Applied biochemistry and biotechnology · 2025Article
- Chlorophyll Pigments and Their Synthetic Analogs.Plant & cell physiology · 2025Review
- Photoacclimation strategies in cyanobacterial photosynthesis under dynamic light environments: implications in growth, fitness, and biotechnological applications.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Review
- Phylogenetic and spectroscopic insights on the evolution of core antenna proteins in cyanobacteria.Photosynthesis research · 2024Article
- qPCR-based phytoplankton abundance and chlorophyll a: A multi-year study in twelve large freshwater rivers across the United States.The Science of the total environment · 2024Article
- DRB1, DRB2 and DRB4 Are Required for an Appropriate miRNA-Mediated Molecular Response to Osmotic Stress inInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Knockout of the Chlorophyll a Oxygenase GeneGenes · 2024Article
- Sulfated Nutrition Modifies Nutrient Content and Photosynthetic Pigment Concentration in Cabbage under Salt Stress.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Antares I: a Modular Photobioreactor Suitable for Photosynthesis and Bioenergetics Research.Applied biochemistry and biotechnology · 2024Article
- Far-red light modulates grapevine growth by increasing leaf photosynthesis efficiency and triggering organ-specific transcriptome remodelling : Author.BMC plant biology · 2024Article
18 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Chlorophyll a (Chl a) serves a dual role in oxygenic photosynthesis: in light harvesting as well as in converting energy of absorbed photons to chemical energy. No other Chl is as omnipresent in oxygenic photosynthesis as is Chl a, and this is particularly true if we include Chl a(2), (=[8-vinyl]-Chl a), which occurs in Prochlorococcus, as a type of Chl a. One exception to this near universal pattern is Chl d, which is found in some cyanobacteria that live in filtered light that is enriched in wavelengths >700 nm. They trap the long wavelength electronic excitation, and convert it into chemical energy. In this Viewpoint, we have traced the possible reasons for the near ubiquity of Chl a for its use in the primary photochemistry of Photosystem II (PS II) that leads to water oxidation and of Photosystem I (PS I) that leads to ferredoxin reduction. Chl a appears to be unique and irreplaceable, particularly if global scale oxygenic photosynthesis is considered. Its uniqueness is determined by its physicochemical properties, but there is more. Other contributing factors include specially tailored protein environments, and functional compatibility with neighboring electron transporting cofactors. Thus, the same molecule, Chl a in vivo, is capable of generating a radical cation at +1 V or higher (in PS II), a radical anion at -1 V or lower (in PS I), or of being completely redox silent (in antenna holochromes).
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.