Short-Term Fixation of14Carbon by the Submerged Aquatic AngiospermPotamogeton pectinatus

Abstract

In ¹⁴C fixation experiments, 3-phosphoglyceric acid was the first product of carbon assimilation in the light in Potamogeton pectinatus. The pattern of early ¹⁴C-labelled compounds was the same over a range of pH values of the medium from 3.5 to 8.1. Rates of ¹⁴C incorporation declined with increasing pH of the medium indicating that free CO₂ is the major exogenous source of carbon for photosynthesis in Potamogeton pectinatus.