The effect of high temperature (HT) and dehydration on the activity of photosynthetic apparatus and its ability to restore membrane properties, oxygen evolution, and energy distribution upon rehydration were investigated in a resurrection plant, Haberlea rhodopensis. Plants growing under low irradiance in their natural habitat were desiccated to air-dry state at a similar light intensity [about 30 μol(photon) m-2 s-1] under optimal day/night (23/20°C) or high (38/30°C) temperature. Our results showed that HT alone reduced the photosynthetic activity and desiccation of plants at 38°C and it had more detrimental effect compared with desiccation at 23°C. The study on isolated thylakoids demonstrated increased distribution of excitation energy to PSI as a result of the HT treatment, which was enhanced upon the desiccation. It could be related to partial destacking of thylakoid membranes, which was confirmed by electron microscopy data. In addition, the surface charge density of thylakoid membranes isolated from plants desiccated at 38°C was higher in comparison with those at 23°C, which was in agreement with the decreased membrane stacking. Dehydration led to a decrease of amplitudes of oxygen yields and to a loss of the oscillation pattern. Following rehydration, the recovery of CO2 assimilation and fluorescence properties were better when desiccation was performed at optimal temperature compared to high temperature. Rehydration resulted in partial recovery of the amplitudes of flash oxygen yields as well as of population of S0 state in plants desiccated at 23°C. However, it was not observed in plants dehydrated at 38°C. and M. Velitchkova ... [et al.].
Four temperature treatments were studied in the climate controlled growth chambers of the Georgia Envirotron: 25/20, 30/25, 35/30, and 40/35 °C during 14/10 h light/dark cycle. For the first growth stage (V3-5), the highest net photosynthetic rate (PN) of sweet corn was found for the lowest temperature of 28-34 µmol m-2 s-1 while the PN for the highest temperature treatment was 50-60 % lower. We detected a gradual decline of about 1 P N unit per 1 °C increase in temperature. Maximum transpiration rate (E) fluctuated between 0.36 and 0.54 mm h-1 (≈5.0-6.5 mm d-1) for the high temperature treatment and the minimum E fluctuated between 0.25 and 0.36 mm h-1 (≈3.5-5.0 mm d-1) for the low temperature treatment. Cumulative CO2 fixation of the 40/35 °C treatment was 33.7 g m-2 d-1 and it increased by about 50 % as temperature declined. The corresponding water use efficiency (WUE) decreased from 14 to 5 g(CO2) kg-1(H2O) for the lowest and highest temperature treatments, respectively. Three main factors affected WUE, PN, and E of Zea: the high temperature which reduced PN, vapor pressure deficit (VPD) that was directly related to E but did not affect PN, and quasi stem conductance (QC) that was directly related to PN but did not affect E. As a result, WUE of the 25/20 °C temperature treatment was almost three times larger than that of 40/35 °C temperature treatment. and J. Ben-Asher, A. Garcia y Garcia, G. Hoogenboom.
The activities of photosystem 2 (PS2) and whole chain electron transport declined in high temperature treated cells at the room temperature beyond 35 °C, while photosystem 1 (PS1) showed increased activity. Thylakoid membrane studies did not exhibit increase in PS1 activity indicating that the enhancement of PS1 activity is due to permeability change of cell membranes. However, the electron transport activity measured from reduced duroquinone to methylviologen which involves intersystem electron transport was extremely sensitive to high temperature. The activity of PS2 at different irradiance, which was accompanied by alterations in absorption and fluorescence emission properties, indicated changes in the energy transfer processes within phycobilisomes. Thus high temperature has multiple target sites in photosynthetic electron transport system of Spirulina platensis. and V. Venkataramanaiah, P. Sudhir, S. D. S. Murthy.
Mosses are plants of simple anatomical structure and as they occur in habitats characterised not only by major changes in the concentrations of carbon dioxide, they suffer the stress of periodic water shortages or submergence in water. The condition of hypoxia (submergence in water or CaCl2 solution) prompted the increase in daily fluctuations in malate content, particularly in the gametophores of Polytrichum piliferum Hedw. No significant increases in daily fluctuations of citrate were found in the hypoxia and post-hypoxia conditions. Placing gametophores for 168 h in air with a concentration of CO2 at ∼ 350 μmol mol-1, and 21% of oxygen, after being submerged for 24 h in water, reduced the daily fluctuations of malate and citrate. Keeping the plants in these conditions for a long time (120-168 h) produced the increase in photosynthesis intensity in the gametophores of Mnium undulatum Hedw. and P. piliferum by 13% and 51%, respectively, when compared with plants submerged for 24 h. The intensity of respiration during post-hypoxia, however, was markedly lower compared with the intensity of the process recorded in hypoxia, particularly in the gametophores of P. piliferum. The increased daily fluctuations of malate and NAD(P)H in the studied species under hypoxia could constitute an important element of adaptive strategy to these conditions. and G. Rut, A. Rzepka, J. Krupa.
The influence of various concentrations of imazapic residues (0-800 μg kg-1) on the growth, chlorophyll content, and photosynthetic characteristics of maize seedlings was studied in a greenhouse pot experiment. Plant height, root length, shoot dry mass, root dry mass, and total dry mass of maize declined with the increase of imazapic residue concentrations. The root/shoot ratio initially decreased and then increased in presence of imazapic, which indicated that the effects of imazapic residues on plant height and root length might differ in maize seedlings. Lowered chlorophyll content and net photosynthetic rate were observed in leaves of maize seedlings in all treatments and indicated a dose-response relationship to imazapic concentrations. Intercellular carbon dioxide concentration, transpiration rate, and stomatal conductance also declined to varying extents, but the chlorophyll a/b ratio increased gradually together with the increase of imazapic residue concentrations. Generally, the maize seedlings were negatively affected by the imazapic residues in soil. Response of root length and biomass to imazapic residues could be the important index for maize variety selection., W. C. Su, L. L. Sun, R. H. Wu, Y. H. Ma, H. L. Wang, H. L. Xu, Z. L. Yan, C. T. Lu., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Area and fresh and dry masses of flag leaf show two phases of development during grain filling in Triticum aestivum. The initial large increase in leaf size is mainly due to water intake. Contents of chlorophylls and carotenoids, reducing sugars, and sucrose, Hill reaction rate, and photosynthetic activity increased during leaf growth, but a noticeable decline in these parameters followed throughout leaf senescence. The maximum accumulation of polysaccharides and proteins occurred at the beginning of grain set, but a continuous decline in their absolute values was manifested during grain filling. Grain priming with indol-3-yl acetic acid (IAA) at 25 mg kg-1 stimulated the flag leaf growth, namely its fresh and dry masses and its area. Furthermore, the stimulatory effect was mainly due to the increase in the pigment formation that in turn increased the photosynthetic activity of flag leaf during grain filling. On the other hand, the highest dose of IAA (50 mg kg-1) attenuated the growth and physiological activity of flag leaf through its inhibitory action on leaf fresh and dry masses, leaf area, pigments, saccharides and protein formation, as well as its effect on 14CO2 assimilation.
The effects of soil salt-alkaline (SA) stress on leaf physiological processes are well studied in the laboratory, but less is known about their effect on leaf, bark and branch chlorenchyma and no reports exist on their effect on C4 enzymes in field conditions. Our results demonstrated that activities of C4 enzymes, such as phospholenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC), NADP-malic enzyme (NADP-ME), pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase (PPDK), and NADP-dependent malate dehydrogenase (NADP-MDH), could also be regulated by soil salinity/alkalinity in poplar (Populus alba × P. berolinensis) trees, similarly as the already documented changes in activities of antioxidative enzymes, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione reductase (GR), pigment composition, photosynthesis, and respiration. However, compared with 50-90% changes in a leaf and young branch chlorenchyma, much smaller changes in malondialdehyde (MDA), antioxidative enzymes, and C4 enzymatic activities were observed in bark chlorenchyma, showing that the effect of soil salinity/alkalinity on enzymatic activities was organ-dependent. This suggests that C4 enzymatic ratios between nonleaf chlorenchyma and leaf (the commonly used parameter to discern the operation of the C4 photosynthetic pathway in nonleaf chlorenchyma), were dependent on SA stress. Moreover, much smaller enhancement of these ratios was seen in an improved soil contrary to SA soil, when the fresh mass (FM) was used as the unit compared with a calculation on a chlorophyll (Chl) unit. An identification of the C4 photosynthesis pathway via C4 enzyme difference between chlorenchyma and leaf should take this environmental regulation and unit-based difference into account., H. M. Wang ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The effect of iron deficiency on photosynthetic pigments, ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (RuBPC), and photosystem activities were investigated in field grown grapevine (Vitis vinifera L. cv. Pinot noir) leaves. The contents of chlorophyll (Chl) (a+b) and carotenoids per unit fresh mass showed a progressive decrease upon increase in iron deficiency. Similar results were also observed in content of total soluble proteins and RuBPC activity. The marked loss of large (55 kDa) and small (15 kDa) subunits of RuBPC was also observed in severely chlorotic leaves. However, when various photosynthetic electron transport activities were analysed in isolated thylakoids, a major decrease in the rate of whole chain (H2O → methyl viologen) electron transport was observed in iron deficient leaves. Such reduction was mainly due to the loss of photosystem 2 (PS2) activity. The same results were obtained when Fv/Fm was evaluated by Chl fluorescence measurements in leaves. Smaller inhibition of photosystem 1 (PS1) activity was also observed in both mild and severely chlorotic leaves. The artificial electron donors, diphenyl carbazide and NH2OH, markedly restored the loss of PS2 activity in severely chlorotic leaves. The marked loss of PS2 activity was evidently due to the loss of 33, 23, 28-25, and 17 kDa polypeptides in iron deficient leaves. and M. Bertamini, N. Nedunchezhian, B. Borghi.
Although the beneficial role of Fe, Zn, and Mn on many physiological and biochemical processes is well established, effects of each of these elements on chlorophyll (Chl) a fluorescence and photosynthetic pigment contents is not well studied. The objective of this study was to evaluate effects of Fe, Zn, and Mn deficiency in two lettuce cultivars. The parameters investigated could serve also as physiological and biochemical markers in order to identify stress-tolerant cultivars. Our results indicated that microelement shortage significantly decreased contents of photosynthetic pigments in both lettuce cultivars. Chl a fluorescence parameters including maximal quantum yield of PSII photochemistry and performance index decreased under micronutrient deficiency, while relative variable fluorescence at J-step and minimal fluorescence yield of the dark-adapted state increased under such conditions in both cultivars. Micronutrient deficiency also reduced all parameters of quantum yield and specific energy fluxes excluding quantum yield of energy dissipation, quantum yield of reduction of end electron acceptors at the PSI, and total performance index for the photochemical activity. Osmoregulators, such as proline, soluble sugar, and total phenols were enhanced in plants grown under micronutrient deficiency. Fe, Zn, and Mn deficiency led to a lesser production of dry mass. The Fe deficiency was more destructive than that of Zn and Mn on the efficiency of PSII in both lettuce cultivars. Our results suggest that the leaf lettuce, which showed a higher efficiency of PSII, electron transport, quantum yield, specific energy fluxes, and osmoregulators under micronutrient deficiency, was more tolerant to stress conditions than crisphead lettuce., H. R. Roosta, A. Estaji, F. Niknam., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Thermal stability of thylakoid membranes isolated from acclimated and non-acclimated wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. HD 2329) leaves under irradiation was studied. Damage to the photosynthetic electron transport activity was more pronounced in thylakoid membranes isolated from non-acclimated leaves as compared to thylakoid membrane isolated from acclimated wheat leaves at 35 °C. The loss of D1 protein was faster in non-acclimated thylakoid membrane as compared to acclimated thylakoid membranes at 35 °C. However, the effect of elevated temperature on the 33 kDa protein associated with oxygen evolving complex in these two types of thylakoid membranes was minimal. Trypsin digestion of the 33 kDa protein in the thylakoid membranes isolated from control and acclimated seedlings suggested that re-organisation of 33 kDa protein occurs before its release during high temperature treatment. and A. K. Singh, G. S. Singhal.