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Ear of durum wheat under water stress: water relations and photosynthetic metabolism

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Abstract

The photosynthetic characteristics of the ear and flag leaf of well-watered (WW) and water-stressed (WS) durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. var. durum) were studied in plants grown under greenhouse and Mediterranean field conditions. Gas exchange measurements simultaneously with modulated chlorophyll fluorescence were used to study the response of the ear and flag leaf to CO2 and O2 during photosynthesis. C4 metabolism was identified by assessing the sensitivity of photosynthetic rate and electron transport to oxygen. The presence of CAM metabolism was assessed by measuring daily patterns of stomatal conductance and net CO2 assimilation. In addition, the histological distribution of Rubisco protein in the ear parts was studied by immunocytochemical localisation. Relative water content (RWC) and osmotic adjustment (osmotic potential at full turgor) were also measured in these organs. Oxygen sensitivity of the assimilation rate and electron transport, the lack of Rubisco compartmentalisation in the mesophyll tissues and the gas-exchange pattern at night indicated that neither C4 nor CAM metabolism occurs in the ear of WW or WS plants. Nevertheless, photosynthetic activity of the flag leaf was more affected by WS conditions than that of the ear, under both growing conditions. The lower sensitivity under water stress of the ear than of the flag leaf was linked to higher RWC and osmotic adjustment in the ear bracts and awns. We demonstrate that the better performance of the ear under water stress (compared to the flag leaf) is not related to C4 or CAM photosynthesis. Rather, drought tolerance of the ear is explained by its higher RWC in drought. Osmotic adjustment and xeromorphic traits of ear parts may be responsible.

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Abbreviations

A sat :

Light-saturated net CO2 assimilation rate

A*sat:

Corrected light-saturated net CO2 assimilation rate of the ear (i.e. Asat+Rd)

Fm and Fm′:

Maximum fluorescence in dark-adapted and light-adapted organs respectively

Fv/Fm:

Maximum efficiency of PSII photochemistry after dark-adaptation

Fv′/Fm′:

Efficiency of energy capture by open PSII centres

Fo′:

Minimum fluorescence yield in light-adapted state

ϕPSII:

Relative quantum yield of PSII photochemistry

PPFD:

Photosynthetically active photon flux density

q P :

Photochemical quenching of chlorophyll fluorescence

R d :

Dark respiration

RuBP:

Ribulose-1,5-biphosphate

RWC:

Relative water content

ψw:

Leaf water potential

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the “Servei dels Camps Experimentals, Universitat de Barcelona” for their valuable help in plant cultivation. We also thank the “Serveis Científico-Tècnics, Universitat de Barcelona” for their particular help in the processing of the material for microscopy, immunolocalisation and image analysis. We are grateful to Dr. J.J. Guiamét (Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina) for supplying the Rubisco antibody. This study was supported in part by the CICYT (Spain, AGL2002-04285-C03-03), and by the EC-INCO IDUWUE (ICA3-CT-2002-10028). E. Tambussi was the recipient of a fellowship from the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET, Argentina).

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  1. Eduardo A. Tambussi

    Present address: Instituto de Fisiología Vegetal (INFIVE), Universidad Nacional de La Plata, cc 327, 1900, La Plata, Argentina

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  1. Unitat de Fisiologia Vegetal, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Avda. Diagonal 645, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Eduardo A. Tambussi, Salvador Nogués & José Luis Araus

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  1. Eduardo A. Tambussi
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  2. Salvador Nogués
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Correspondence to José Luis Araus.

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Tambussi, E.A., Nogués, S. & Araus, J.L. Ear of durum wheat under water stress: water relations and photosynthetic metabolism. Planta 221, 446–458 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-004-1455-7

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