ON THE SPONTANEOUS ULTRAWEAK LIGHT-EMISSION OF PLANTS

Products and byproducts of the metabolism of plant cell organelles can initiate reactions which result in radical formation. These highly ac tive compounds are capable of emitting light or transferring excitatio n. If chlorophyll is present, it will probably receive excitation from the radicals and act as an emitter itself, resulting in apparently sp ontaneous light emission from dark-adapted plants. Spectral and kineti c data suggest that this phenomenon is different from fluorescence or delayed light emission. The aim of this work is to review new developm ents in the study of spontaneous ultraweak light emission from plant t issues, in particular recent evidence linking metabolic pathways to da rk photoemission.