To investigate damaging mechanisms of chilling and salt stress to peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) leaves, LuHua 14 was used in the present work upon exposure to chilling temperature (4°C) accompanied by high irradiance (1,200 μmol m-2 s-1) (CH), salt stress accompanied by high irradiance (1,200 μmol m-2 s-1) (SH), and high-irradiance stress (1,200 μmol m-2 s-1) at room temperature (25°C) (NH), respectively. Additionally, plants under low irradiance (100 μmol m-2 s-1) at room temperature (25°C) were used as control plants (CK). Relative to CK and NH treatments, both the maximal photochemical efficiency of PSII (Fv/Fm) and the absorbance at 820 nm decreased greatly in peanut leaves under CH and SH stress, which indicated that severe photoinhibition occurred in peanut leaves under such conditions. Initial fluorescence (F0), 1 - qP and nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ) in peanut leaves significantly increased under CH- and SH stress. Additionally, the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), one of the key enzymes of water-water cycle, decreased greatly, the accumulation of malondialdehyde (MDA) and membrane permeability increased. These results suggested that damages to peanut photosystems might be related to the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced by excess energy, and the water-water cycle could not dissipate energy efficiently under the stress of CH and SH, which caused the accumulation of ROS greatly. CH and SH had similar damaging effects on peanut photosystems, except that CH has more severe effects. All the results showed that CH- and SH stress has similar damaging site and mechanisms in peanut leaves. and L.-Q. Qin ... [et al.].
Pyrococcus furiosus is a hyperthermophilic archaeon. Its ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (PfRubisco) has only large subunit (L). PfRubisco has a novel (L2)5, decameric structure and it possesses higher carboxylase activity and thermotolerance. To assess the potential functionality of PfRubisco in higher plants under high-temperature stress, PfRubisco coding sequence was transiently expressed in Nicotiana benthamiana by Pea early browning virus mediated ectopic expression. The transgenic PfRubisco plants produced chlorotic yellow stripes in their leaves. Relative to the control leaves, those with yellow stripes exhibited decreased net photosynthetic rate and chlorophyll content, altered chloroplast ultrastructure, and more severe photoinhibition of both photosystem I and II. We concluded that the ectopic expression of PfRubisco might disrupt the chloroplast development and function in N. benthamiana. The potential cause of the disruption was discussed. and X. -G. Li ... [et al.].
The function of chloroplast ferredoxin quinone reductase (FQR)-dependent flow was examined by comparing a wild type tobacco and a tobacco transformant (ΔndhB) in which the ndhB gene had been disrupted with their antimycin A (AA)-fed leaves upon exposure to chilling temperature (4 °C) under low irradiance (100 µmol m-2 s-1 photon flux density). During the chilling stress, the maximum photochemical efficiency of photosystem (PS) 2 (Fv/Fm) decreased markedly in both the controls and AA-fed leaves, and P700+ was also lower in AA-fed leaves than in the controls, implying that FQR-dependent cyclic electron flow around PS1 functioned to protect the photosynthetic apparatus from chilling stress under low irradiance. Under such stress, non-photochemical quenching (NPQ), particularly the fast relaxing NPQ component (qf) and the de-epoxidized ratio of the xanthophyll cycle pigments, (A+Z)/(V+A+Z), formed the difference between AA-fed leaves and controls. The lower NPQ in AA-fed leaves might be related to an inefficient proton gradient across thylakoid membranes (ΔpH) because of inhibiting an FQR-dependent cyclic electron flow around PS1 at chilling temperature under low irradiance. and X.-G. Li ... [et al.].