Plants of pepper (Capsicum amuum L.) were grown in controlled environment chambers at ambient (360 pmol mol"*) and fluctuating pulse-enriched CO2 concentrations (700 pmol mol"* daily average, ranging from 500 to 3500 pmol mol"* = ECO2) under two water regimes. A decrease in plant growth and yield together with frequent visual injuries was found in plants growing under ECO2. Root/shoot ratio was greater, chlorophyll concentration and respiration rates were lower, and stomatal conductance and relative importance of alternativě pathway respiration were higher under ECO2. The negative effects of ECO2 were more intense under high water availability. The symptoms produced by ECO2 were similar to those of resource limitation, and were alleviated with increased nutrient supply. Constant elevated CO2 concentrations (700 pmol mol"*) increased pepper production and did not produce any of the injuries described for this erratic ECO2 treatment. Thus, it is probably the erratic nátuře of the CO2 concentration and not the gas itself that was causing the injiuy.
Elevated temperature inhibited the accumulation of chlorophyll and photosynthetic proteins, and the development of photochemical activity, however, carotenoids continued to accumulate. Signal transduction pathway involved in protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase was unaffected by elevated temperature of 38°C. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis of stroma proteins showed similar patterns in the dark-grown seedlings and seedlings irradiated at elevated temperature, although some low molecular mass proteins accumulated at 38°C. In contrast, seedlings irradiated at 25°C showed complex pattern of proteins. Hence the development of chloroplast and its associated functions during irradiation of etiolated seedlings are inhibited by elevated temperature. and A. K. Singh, G. S. Singhal.
Models were developed to estimate nondestructively chlorophyll (Chl) content per unit of leaf area (Chlarea) and nitrogen content per unit of leaf area (Narea) using readings of two optical meters for five warm-temperate, evergreen, broadleaved tree species (Castanopsis sieboldii, Cinnamomum tenuifolium, Eurya japonica, Machilus thunbergii, and Neolitsea sericea). It was determined whether models should be adjusted seasonally. Readings (were obtained six times during a year period and Chlarea and Narea were determined using destructive methods. Bayesian inference was used to estimate parameters of models that related optical meter readings to Chlarea or Narea for each species. Deviance information criterion values were used to select the best among models, including the models with seasonal adjustment. The selected models were species-specific and predicted Chlarea accurately (R2 = 0.93-0.96). The best model included parameters with seasonal adjustments for one out of five species. Model-based estimates of Narea were not as accurate as those for Chlarea, but they were still adequate (R2 = 0.64-0.82). For all species studied, the best models did not include parameters with seasonal adjustments. The estimation methods used in this study were rapid and nondestructive; thus, they could be used to assess a function of many leaves and/or repeatedly on individual leaves in the field. and D. Mizusaki, K. Umeki, T. Honjo.
In greening mustard cotyledons, both photosystems (PS) 1 and 2 were significantly promoted by addition of gibberelic acid (GA) at low concentrations, i.e. upto 10 μΜ, while at higher concentrations no significant changes were recorded. PS2 activity in kinetin (KN) treated seedlings was promoted at concentrations upto 5 μΜ KN, while it showed a slight inhibition at higher concentrations. No significant change in PS1 activity was observed when compared to controls. Other particular photosynthetic electron transport reactions were also increased by GA and KN. KN03 showed concentration-dependent effects on photosynthetic electron transport reactions.
Chlorophyll (Chl) a fluorescence transient and 820-nm transmission kinetic were investigated to explore the development of photosynthetic apparatus in grapevine leaves from emergence to full expansion. In this study, all leaves at various developing stages exhibited typical Chl a fluorescence transient. In newly initiating leaves, the maximum quantum yield of primary photochemistry (ϕP0) was slightly lower (<10 %) than that in fully expanded leaves. Nevertheless, the fluorescence rise from O to J step was clearly speeded up in young leaves compared with that in fully expanded leaves. Additionally, a distinct K step appeared in young leaves at high irradiances. With leaf development, the efficiency that a trapped exciton can move an electron into the electron transport chain further than QA - (Ψ0), the quantum yield of electron transport beyond QA (ϕE0), electron transport flux per excited cross section (ET0/CS0), the amount of active photosystem (PS) 2 reaction centres per excited cross section (RC/CS0), and the performance index on cross section basis (PICS) increased gradually and rapidly. Young leaves had strikingly lower amplitude of transmission at 820 nm. A linear relationship between Ψ0 and the transmission at 820 nm (I30/I0) was evident. Based on these data, we suggest that (1) the primary photochemistry of PS2 may be not the limiting step of the photosynthetic capacity during leaf growth under natural irradiance; (2) oxygen evolving complex (OEC) might be not fully connected to PS2 at the beginning of leaf growth; (3) though there are a few functional PS1 and PS2 at the early stages of leaf development, they match perfectly. and C.-D. Jiang ... [et al.].
Chrysanthemum plantlets were cultivated in vitro on media with 2.0, 0.3, or 0 % sucrose, or photoautotrophically without an organic carbon source but with supplementation of the culture vessel atmosphere with 2 % CO2. The photoautotrophically cultivated plantlets showed a better growth and multiplication, higher contents of chlorophyll (Chl) and carotenoids, higher Chl a/b ratio, net photosynthetic rate and ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase activities than plantlets grown on the medium with sucrose. and C. Cristea, F. Dalla Vecchia, N. la Rocca.
We investigated seasonal patterns of photosynthetic responses to CO2 concentrations in Spartina alterniflora Loisel, an aerenchymous halophyte grass, from a salt marsh of the Bay of Fundy (NB, Canada), and from plants grown from rhizome in controlled-environment chambers. From late May to August, CO2 compensation concentrations (Γ) of field-grown leaves varied between 2.5-10.7 cm3(CO2) m-3, with a mean of 5.4 cm3(CO2) m-3. From September onwards field leaves showed CO2 compensation concentrations from 6.6-21.1 cm3(CO2) m-3, with a mean of 13.1 cm3 m-3 well into the C3-C4 intermediate range. The seasonal variability in Γ did not result from changing respiration, but rather from a sigmoidal response of net photosynthetic rate (PN) to applied CO2 concentration, found in all tested leaves but which became more pronounced late in the season. One explanation for the sigmoidal response of PN to external CO2 concentration could be internal delivery of CO2 from roots and rhizomes to bundle sheath cells via the aerenchyma, but the sigmoidal responses in S. alterniflora persisted out to the tips of leaves, while the aerenchyma extend only to mid-leaf. The sigmoidicity persisted when CO2 response curves were measured from low to high CO2, or from high to low CO2, and even when prolonged acclimation times were used at each CO2 concentration. and M. O. Bärlocher ... [et al.].
We studied the developmental changes in photosynthetic and respiration rates and thermal dissipation processes connected with chloroplasts and mitochondria activity in etiolated wheat (Triticum aestivum L., var. Irgina) seedlings during the greening process. Etioplasts gradually developed into mature chloroplasts under continuous light [190 μmol(photon) m-2 s-1] for 48 h in 5-day-dark-grown seedlings. The net photosynthetic rate of irradiated leaves became positive after 6 h of illumination and increased further. The first two hours of de-etiolation were characterized by low values of maximum (Fv/Fm) and actual photochemical efficiency of photosystem II (PSII) and by a coefficient of photochemical quenching in leaves. Fv/Fm reached 0.8 by the end of 24 h-light period. During greening, energy-dependent component of nonphotochemical quenching of chlorophyll fluorescence, violaxanthin cycle (VXC) operation, and lipoperoxidation activity changed in a similar way. Values of these parameters were the highest at the later phase of de-etiolation (4-12 h of illumination). The respiration rate increased significantly after 2 h of greening and it was the highest after 4-6 h of illumination. It was caused by an increase in alternative respiration (AP) capacity. The strong, positive linear correlation was revealed between AP capacity and heat production in greening tissues. These results indicated that VXC in chloroplasts and AP in mitochondria were intensified as energy-dissipating systems at the later stage of greening (after 4 h), when most of prolamellar bodies converted into thylakoids, and they showed the greatest activity until the photosynthetic machinery was almost completely developed. and E. V. Garmash ... [et al.].