What is Etiolation?

Etiolation is a state caused by the growth of plants in the absence of light. It is characterized by light yellow color, thin leaves and weak elongated stems. The stems of the plant grown in the dark grow longer and thinner to achieve a potential light source. A plant suffering from ethiolation will produce thinner and longer stems than a healthy plant, with longer internities to achieve a thin source of light or find one when it does not exist. Its stems will also grow faster than the plant exposed to adequate sunlight. Since the leaves grow on the internodes of plant stems, a plant suffering from ethiolation of less leaves than a normal plant will have.

Photosynthesis largely depends on chloroplasts, organelles present in plant cells. Pigments absorbing light in chloroplasts, including chlorophyll, produce green color. Chloroplasts that have never been exposed to light remain immature and endless and are known as Ethioplastics.

Ethioplastics are more similar to leuocoplasts, other non -proclaimed plant cells than for chloroplasts in a healthy plant. The presence of ethioplastics instead of chloroplasts in a plant grown in the dark is responsible for chlorosis or light yellow color, which is one of the main symptoms of etiolation. Chlorosis occurs when the plant lacks the necessary nutrients to synthesize chlorophyll.

When a plant suffering from ethiolation is exposed to sunlight, there is a process known as De-Etiolation. During de-etiolation, the plant begins to produce chloroplasts, becomes greener and produces fuller and more abundant leaves. Over time of internodes stem, it becomes a normal length. An anthocyanins, plant pigments responsible for blue, purple and red shades will also begin to evolve in the plant undergoing de-eTiolation. In addition, the seeds of the plant will undergo changes contributing to the fertility of the plant.