Influence of Gamma Irradiation on Greening of Mung Bean Seedlings

Ionizing radiation causes many alterations in photosynthetic machineries. However, there is no information about effects of ionizing radiation on the development of photosynthetic machineries in plants. We investigated the greening of etiolated mung bean seedlings after gamma-irradiation of 50 to 300 Gy. The irradiation inhibited seedling growth with great dependence on the radiation dose. In particular, growth of stems was more affected than that of hypocotyls. Irradiated leaves showed inhibition in growth, aberration in morphology, and yellowing in color depending on the radiation dose. Contents of photosynthetic pigments such as chlorophylls and carotenoids were significantly decreased in the irradiated leaves. The apparent electron transport rate for photosynthesis, ETR, was similarly changed depending on the radiation dose. However, the maximal photochemical efficiency of Photosystem II (PSII), Fv/Fm, was little affected by the irradiation. Moreover, the 50-Gy seedlings maintained the control level of light saturating for photosynthesis and showed slightly higher Fv/Fm values in spite of significant decreases in the photosynthetic pigment content and ETR. These results suggest that the inhibition of the overall photosynthetic capacity couldn’t be causally relatqaed with the repression in the initial development of irradiated seedlings and that the overall photosynthetic machineries can develop and work to some extent as a concerted system for photosynthesis even after exposure to acute doses of ionizing radiation.