In the seasonally flooded forest of the Mapire River, a tributary of the Orinoco, seedlings remain totally covered by flood water for over six months. In order to characterize the physiological response to flooding and submergence, seedlings of the tree Pouteria orinocoensis, an important component of the forest vegetation, were subjected experimentally to flooding. Flooding was imposed gradually, the maximum level of flood including submerged and emerged leaves. After 45 d a severe reduction of net photosynthetic rate (PN) and stomatal conductance (g s) was observed in emerged leaves, whereas leaf water potential remained constant. The decrease in PN of emerged leaves was associated to an increase in both relative stomatal and non-stomatal limitations, and the maintenance of the internal/air CO2 concentration (C i/C a) for at least 20 d of flooding. After this time, both PN and gs became almost zero. The decrease in photosynthetic capacity of emerged leaves with flooding was also evidenced by a decrease in carboxylation efficiency; photon-saturated photosynthetic rate, and apparent quantum yield of CO2 fixation. Oxygen evolution rate of submerged leaves measured after three days of treatment was 7 % of the photosynthetic rate of emerged leaves. Submersion determined a chronic photoinhibition of leaves, viewed as a reduction in maximum quantum yield in dark-adapted leaves, whereas the chlorophyll fluorescence analysis of emerged leaves pointed out at the occurrence of dynamic, rather than chronic, photoinhibition. This was evidenced by the absence of photochemical damage, i.e. the maintenance of maximum quantum yield in dark-adapted leaves. Nevertheless, the observed lack of complementarity between photochemical and non-photochemical quenching after 12 d of flooding implies that the capacity for photochemical quenching decreased in a non-co-ordinate manner with the increase in non-photochemical quenching.
A novel purification procedure was developed for the isolation of oxygen evolving photosystem 2 (PS2) from Mastigocladus laminosus. The isolation procedure involves dodecyl maltoside extraction followed by column chromatography using anion exchange resins. The isolated PS2 reaction center (RC) was analyzed for its biochemical and biophysical characteristics. Analysis by SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed that the complex contained five intrinsic membrane proteins (CP 47, CP 43, D1, D2, and cyt b559) and at least three low molecular mass proteins. The complex exhibited high rates of oxygen evolution [333 mmol(O2) kg-1(Chl) s-1] in the presence of 2.5 mM 2,6-dimethylbenzoquinone (DMBQ) as an artificial electron acceptor. The red chlorophyll a absorption peak of this complex was observed at 673.5±0.2 nm. The isolated PS2 core complex was free of photosystem 1 as inferred from its SDS-PAGE and fluorescence spectrum. The electron transfer properties of the Mastigocladus cells and the purified PS2 core complex were further probed by measuring thermoluminescence signals, which indicated the presence of a primary quinone electron acceptor (QA) in the purified PS2 core complex. and V. M. Ramesh ... [et al.].
Addition of nitrate to a suspension of NO3--depleted Chlorella vulgaris cells raised the O2-evolving capacity of the organism by 60%. The rate of O2-evolution under flash irradiation of the depleted cells was drastically reduced, which could be restored by addition of NO3-. The 2,5-dibromo-3-methyl-6-isopropyl-p-benzoquinone (DBMIB)-insensitive O2-evolution, i.e., photosystem (PS) 2 activity of NO3--depleted cells, showed a 75% stimulation by addition of NO3-. PS1-mediated electron transport was also stimulated (50%) by addition of NO3-. Fluorescence yields of the NO3--depleted cells were significantly reduced. A normal fluorescence response was restored by the addition of NO3-. The fluorescence yield of the NO3--depleted and DCMU-treated-cells increased significantly after addition of NO3- ions, indicating a further reduction of the primary acceptor of PS2 (Q). In addition, the low temperature fluorescence emission spectra showed that energy transfer to PS2 and PS1 was much higher when nitrate was present. Hence nitrate accelerates the light-induced charge transfer from the intact O2-evolving system to the primary electron acceptor of PS2 and stimulates the PS1-mediated electron transport. and M. El-Anwar H. Osman, A. H. El-Naggar.