The effects of simulated acid rain on gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence, and anti-oxidative enzyme activity in cucumber seedlings (Cucumis sativus L. cv. Jingchun No. 4) were investigated. Acid rain significantly reduced net photosynthetic rate and mainly non-stomatal factors contributed to the decrease of photosynthesis during the experimental period. The reduced photosynthesis was associated with a decreased maximal photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm) and the average quantum yield of the photosystem 2 (PS2) reaction centres (ΦPS2). Meanwhile, acid rain significantly increased the activities of guaiacol peroxidase (GPX) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), but decreased the activity of catalase (CAT) together with an increased content of malonyldialdehyde (MDA), Hence the changes in photosynthesis in acid rain treatment might be a secondary effect of acidity damage probably due to lipid peroxidation of lipids and proteins in thylakoid membrane rather than direct effect on PS2 reaction centre. and Jing-Quan Yu, Su-Feng Ye, Li-Feng Huang.
Application of the electrostatic precipitator (ESP) dust to soil and leaves of Cajanus cajan, Vigna mungo, Vigna radiata, Vigna catjung and Glycina max increased biomass, chloroplast pigments, Chemical constituents and enzyme activities of leaves, besides crop productivity evidently indicating that the dust acted as a fertilizer. The net photosynthetic rate, photosystem 2 activity and rate of transpiration were not altered in špite of the dust forming a thin uniform coating ověř the leaf surface. The contents of intermediary N-compounds like allantoin, allantoic acid and total ureides of the leaves, which might serve as an indirect evidence of symbiotic N2-fixation, were higher in the treated plants. There were increments in free proline, soluble proteins, total nitrogen, nitrates, nitrites, soluble sugars and phenols in the treated plants. The concentrations of ffee amino acids, soluble starch, total sucrose and water soluble SH compounds of the leaves of the control and treated plants did not show any significant difference. The activity of superoxide dismutase was significantly higher which possibly indicated its role in alleviation of H2O2 and Oj toxicity. Enzymes like nitráte reductase, nitrite reductase, glutamine S3mthetase, acid and alkaline phosphatases, carbonic anhydrase, catalase, glutathione reductase and ascorbate peroxidase also functioned normally. In the treated plants, the concentration of ascorbic acid was significantly higher in the roots and nodules indicating the possible role of ascorbic acid in stress alleviation.
Two cultivars of common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum), Pyra and Siva, were exposed to three treatments: water deficit (WD), foliar spraying by selenium (as Na2SeO4) (Se), and the combination of both. In WD-plants the stomatal conductance (gs) was significantly lower, while WD+Se-plants of Siva had significantly higher gs. None of the treatments resulted in significant differences of potential photochemical efficiency of photosystem 2 (PS2). A significantly higher actual photochemical efficiency of PS2 was obtained in Siva WD-plants and in Pyra Se-and WD-plants which was possibly due to improvement of plant water management during treatment. A significant interaction was observed between the effects of WD and Se on respiratory potential in Pyra. WD, Se, and the WD+Se combination resulted in shorter Pyra and Siva plants, with a reduced number of nodes. WD slightly negatively affected the yield per plant. The yield was highest in plants exposed to Se only. In Siva the number of seeds was triple while the average seed mass remained unchanged. and N. Tadina ... [et al.].
So far the photorespiration rate (RP) in a leaf has been determined as the difference between the net photosynthetic rates (PN) measured in 21 % O2 air (PN21%) and 3 % O2 air (PN3%). In the C3 plant Vigna radiata and the C4 plant Amaranthus mongostanus L., PN and chlorophyll fluorescence quenching in leaves were monitored simultaneously. RP of leaves in situ was estimated as termed RPE from the electron transport rates through photosystem 2 (PS2), and compared with RPO (PN3% - PN21%). In V. radiata RPO was 11.9 µmol(CO2) m-2 s-1 and the ratio of RPO to PN21% was 42.2 %, whereas the ratio of RPE to PN21% was 25.7 %. This suggests that RPO may be over-estimated for the real RP in normal air. In A. mongostanus, PN was almost not changed with a decrease in O2 concentration from 21 to 3 %, whereas the quantum yield of PS2 was evidently affected by the change in O2 concentration. This fact shows the presence of photorespiration in this C4 species, where RPE was equivalent to 3.8 % of PN21%. and Y. Yoshimura, F. Kubota, K. Hirao.
In order to investigate the effect of large isoform of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBPCO) activase (RuBPCO-A) on photosynthesis, cDNA of the enzyme (rca) was transferred to rice cultivars (Oryza sativa f. japonica cv. Nipponbare) under the control of RuBPCO small subunit gene promoter (rbcS) via Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation. Transgenic rice plants were identified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Southern and Western blot analyses. Net photosynthetic rate (PN ) values of the T1 transgenic lines 34 (T34) and 40 (T40) were 45.26 and 46.32 % higher than that of the control plants, respectively. At the same time, their carboxylation efficiency and RuBPCO initial activity, quantum yield of electron transport in photosystem 2 (ΦPS2), and steady state photochemical fluorescence quenching (qP) increased. In addition, heading time of the transgenic rice was advanced. Thus increasing the amount of large isoform of RuBPCO-A in the transgenic rice might have a stimulatory effect on both photosynthesis and plant growth. and H. R. Wu ... [et al.].
The effects of chilling treatment (4 °C) under low irradiance, LI (100 μmol m-2 s-1) and in the dark on subsequent recovery of photosynthesis in chilling-sensitive sweet pepper leaves were investigated by comparing the ratio of quantum yields of photosystem (PS) 2 and CO2 assimilation, ΦPS2/ΦCO2, measured in normal air (21 % O2, NA) and low O2-air (2% O2, LOA), and by analyzing chlorophyll (Chl) a fluorescence parameters. Chilling treatment in the dark had little effect on Fv/Fm and ΦPS2/ΦCO2, but it caused the decrease of net photosynthetic rate (PN) under saturating irradiance after 6-h chilling treatment, indicating that short-term chilling alone did not induce PS2 photoinhibition. Furthermore, photorespiration and Mehler reaction also did not obviously change during subsequent recovery after chilling stress in the dark. During chilling treatment under LI, there were obvious changes in Fv/Fm and ΦPS2/ΦCO2, determined in NA or LOA. Fv/Fm could recover fully in 4 h at 25 °C, and ΦPS2/ΦCO2 increased at the end of the treatment, as determined in both NA and LOA. During subsequent recovery, ΦPS2/ΦCO2 in LOA decreased faster than in NA. Thus the Mehler reaction might play an important role during chilling treatment under LI, and photorespiration was an important process during the subsequent recovery. The recovery of PN under saturating irradiance determined in NA and LOA took about 50 h, implying that there were some factors besides CO2 assimilation limiting the recovery of photosynthesis. From the progress of reduced P700 and the increase of the Mehler reaction during chilling under LI we propose that active oxygen species were the factors inducing PS1 photoinhibition, which prevented the recovery of photosynthesis in optimal conditions because of the slow recovery of the oxidizable P700. 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.].
We developed new parameters for molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, namely partial atomic charges, equilibrium bond-lengths, angles, dihedrals, atom types, and force constants of chlorophyll a (Chl) and plastoquinone (PQ), and both reduced and neutral form of primary acceptor (PHO) molecule. These parameters are essential for MD simulations that can interpret various structure functional relationships during primary processes of charge separation and stabilization in photosystem 2 reaction centres. and P. Palenčár, F. Vácha, M. Kutý.
In soybean seedlings, Cd2+ affected growth and inhibited photosynthesis. Both the length and fresh mass decreased more in roots than in shoots. Cd2+ stress caused an increase in ratio of chlorophyll (Chl) (a+b)/b by 1.3 fold and ratio of total xanthophylls/β-carotene by 3 fold compared to the control. A reduced activity of photosystem 2 by about 85 % measured in Cd2+-treated chloroplasts was associated with a dramatic quenching of fluorescence emission intensity, with a band shift of 4 nm. A major suppression of absorption was accompanied with shift in peaks in the visible region of the spectrum. In Cd2+-treated chloroplasts a selective decline in linolenic acid (18:3), the most unsaturated fatty acid of chloroplasts, paralleled with the ten fold enhancement in ethylene production. A three fold increase in peroxidase activity was found in chloroplasts treated with Cd2+ compared to the control . Addition of 1 mM glutathione (GSH) counteracted all the retardation effects in soybean seedling growth induced by Cd2+. Thus GSH may control the Cd2+ growth inhibition as it detoxifies Cd2+ by reducing its concentration in the cytoplasm and removing hydrogen peroxide generated in chloroplasts.
Irradiation of etiolated leaves leads to their greening. Although this problem has a long history, the question of whether the intermittent irradiation (IMI) grown plants have fully functional reaction centres as well as the oxygen clock, before exposure to continuous irradiation (CI), had not been resolved. To answer this question, as well as to analyze the development of the two photosystems, the following parallel measurements were made: (1) Emission spectra at 77 K; (2) OJIP chlorophyll (Chl) a fluorescence transient; (3) period 4 oscillation in the flash number dependence of initial fluorescence F0 (at 50 µs) and FJ (at 2 ms); and (4) P700. In the 1-ms-flash (FL) grown pea, that has a different biogenesis of the photosynthetic apparatus, delayed light emission (DLE) and Chl a fluorescence transient were measured in parallel. Quantitative analysis of Chl a fluorescence values provided the following conclusions: (1) IMI, not FL, plants have almost fully developed reaction centres and the oxygen clock. (2) Further greening of IMI plants under CI involves two phases: (a) during 3-4 h of CI, the number of PS2 units and connectivity between them increase, and then (b) light-harvesting antenna increases. (3) In FL, 10 min CI activates fully the oxygen clock. and A. Srivastava, R. J. Strasser, Govindjee.