Photoreactions in Phycomyces. Responses to the stimulation of narrow test areas with ultraviolet light

STEADY-STATE PHOTOTROPISM IN PHYCOMYCES

The steady-state phototropic bending of Phycomyces sporangiophores was studied using apparatus designed to keep the growing zone vertical and the angle of illumination constant over long periods of time. The bending speed is quite constant if the intensity and angle of illumination are fixed. A phototropic inversion occurs in response to a sudden change in intensity, either an increase or a decrease. A bending component lateral to the illumination direction is strongly evident at normal incidence. It is shown that this component is due to a rotation between the stimulus and response loci about the axis of the growing zone, which is probably related to the spiral growth of the cell. The steady-state bending speed is at a maximum value for illumination directions ranging from normal incidence to about 45 degrees . From 45 to 14 degrees the bending speed decreases linearly with angle, reaching zero at 14 degrees . Angles less than 14 degrees elicit a weak negative phototropic response. Using an optical model of the growing zone, the intracellular intensity distribution was determined as a function of the angle of illumination. Several hypotheses relating the intensity distribution to the phototropic response are discussed.

A Novel Effect in Phycomyces Phototropism : Positive Bending and Compensation Spectrum in Far UV

A novel effect-positive phototropic bending under far UV irradiation (between 260 and 305 nanometers) at low intensities-is reported. Natural compensation points (intensities which cause no bending under unilateral irradiation) have been determined for different wavelengths. The curve connecting these points, the compensation spectrum, divides the intensity-wavelength plane into areas of negative and positive tropism. It is further shown that a highly asymmetrical pattern of light stimulus within the sporangiophore underlies the symmetrical growth response at each compensation point. This suggests that some unknown additional factor is involved in perceiving a UV stimulus at the level of the photoreceptor. It is also demonstrated here that positive tropism in the UV range is due to a lens effect. We conclude that the hypothesis of optical attenuation of the stimulus (considered until now as the most plausible explanation of negative tropism in the UV spectral range) must be dismissed. The results presented here represent the first application of our quantitative theoretical consideration of spatial factors in phototropism heretofore neglected by others.

Intracellular rotation and the phototropic response of Phycomyces

Experimental evidence indicates that during phototropism, Phycomyces sporangiophores use their own net rotation to convert an apparently spatial stimulus to a temporal one. Conversion to a continuous temporal stimulus insures that phototropism never adapts as long as the spatial asymmetry in illumination is maintained. If this temporal stimulus is circumvented by rotating the cell backwards so that there is no net rotation of some of the receptors relative to the light, the response can be reduced by two-thirds. The system thus adapts to the incident light, resulting in a reduced response. For the illumination of a transparent cell, this compensating rotation speed is 10 degrees/min counterclockwise and probably corresponds to the photoreceptor rotation in the most effective part of the growing zone. We infer that this region is in the upper portion of the growing zone and that the receptor system rotates integrally with that region of the cell.

Phototropism and local adaptation in Phycomyces sporangiophores

Phototropic responses to unilateral ultraviolet stimuli were studied to determine whether the response of one side of the cell is affected by the previous exposure of the opposite side to ultraviolet. It has been found that the direction of bending is not parallel to the stimulus direction, but is along a straight line rotated 17 degrees clockwise from the stimulus direction. This deviation indicates that the photoreceptors may be in a state of continual clockwise rotation. If before the stimulus the cell is exposed briefly to ultraviolet and rotated through 90 degrees , the response is not along the 17 degrees line, but is deviated a greater or lesser amount, depending on whether the 90 degrees rotation is clockwise or counterclockwise. This difference is evidence that the first ultraviolet exposure leaves a persistent patch of light-adapted receptors and the shaded part of the cell remains dark adapted. The phototropic stimulus straddles the edge between light- and dark-adapted regions, and the differing responses of the two regions affects the direction of phototropic bending. A phototropic mechanism is proposed which combines the features of local adaptation and photoreceptor rotation.

Effects of cold periods on the stimulus-response system of Phycomyces

The sporangiophores of Phycomyces do not exhibit phototropic responses when growth is arrested reversibly by cooling to 1 degrees C. Unilateral UV stimuli (254 nm) applied during cold periods are stored for at least 2 hr and produce tropic responses away from the light after warm-up. During the cold period dark adaptation proceeds at a rate which decreases with the temperature.

Phycomyces

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