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Exogenously applied 20-hydroxyecdysone increases the net photosynthetic rate but does not affect the photosynthetic electron transport or the content of photosynthetic pigments in Tetragonia tetragonioides L.

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Abstract

Phytoecdysteroids are steroid compounds present in many plant species (sometimes in rather large amounts), but their biological role is still far from being clear. We have found that the exogenous application of 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) to leaves of Tetragonia tetragonioides L. causes stimulation of its net photosynthetic rate (P N) but does not positively affect the photosynthetic electron transport or the content of photosynthetic pigments. The increase in P N was observed shortly after 20E treatment and was statistically significant during the 4th and 6th hours after treatment but not later, which could be perhaps caused by a strictly short-term window of opportunity for ecdysteroids to significantly affect photosynthetic processes. To our knowledge, these results are the first to suggest a new potential biological function of phytoecdysteroids—regulation of photosynthesis.

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Fig. 1

Abbreviations

20E:

20-hydroxyecdysone

Car:

Carotenoids

Chl:

Chlorophyll

P N :

Net photosynthetic rate

Rubisco:

Ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (Grant 501/11/1650), the Charles University in Prague (Grant SVV-2013-267205) and the Grant Agency of the Charles University in Prague (Grant B/BIO/612612).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Viničná 5, 12844, Prague 2, Czech Republic

    Dana Holá, Marie Kočová, Olga Rothová & Lenka Tůmová

  2. Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Faculty of Food and Biochemical Technology, Institute of Chemical Technology Prague, Technická 5, 16628, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    Marek Kamlar & Tomáš Macek

Authors
  1. Dana Holá
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  2. Marie Kočová
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  3. Olga Rothová
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  4. Lenka Tůmová
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  5. Marek Kamlar
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  6. Tomáš Macek
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dana Holá.

Additional information

Communicated by M. Garstka.

Electronic supplementary material

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11738_2013_1379_MOESM1_ESM.eps

Supplementary Fig. 1 The difference kinetics ΔWOJ=(WOJ 20E - WOJ CONTROL) revealing the K-band and calculated from the relative variable fluorescence WOJ=(Ft-F0)/(FJ-F0), where Ft represents the fluorescence intensity measured at any time during the recording period, FJ the fluorescence intensity at the J-step, and F0 the initial fluorescence intensity. Measurements were made in leaves of Tetragonia tetragonioides L. at various times (1, 2, 4, 6, 24, 48 or 72 hours) after treatment of plants with 2 mM aqueous solution of 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) or water (Control). Mean values (n=8) are shown for each time point. (EPS 14889 kb)

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Holá, D., Kočová, M., Rothová, O. et al. Exogenously applied 20-hydroxyecdysone increases the net photosynthetic rate but does not affect the photosynthetic electron transport or the content of photosynthetic pigments in Tetragonia tetragonioides L.. Acta Physiol Plant 35, 3489–3495 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-013-1379-6

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