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Photosynthetic acclimation in the context of structural constraints to carbon export from leaves

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Abstract

The potential role of foliar carbon export features in the acclimation of photosynthetic capacity to differences and changes in light environment was evaluated. These features included apoplastic vs. symplastic phloem loading, density of loading veins, plasmodesmatal frequency in intermediary cells, and the ratio of loading cells to sieve elements. In initial studies, three apoplastic loaders (spinach, pea, Arabidopsis thaliana) exhibited a completely flexible photosynthetic response to changing light conditions, while two symplastic loaders (pumpkin, Verbascum phoeniceum), although able to adjust to different long-term growth conditions, were more limited in their response when transferred from low (LL) to high (HL) light. This suggested that constraints imposed by the completely physical pathway of sugar export might act as a bottleneck in the export of carbon from LL-acclimated leaves of symplastic loaders. While both symplastic loaders exhibited variable loading vein densities (low in LL and high in HL), none of the three apoplastic loaders initially characterized exhibited such differences. However, an additional apoplastic species (tomato) exhibited similar differences in vein density during continuous growth in different light environments. Furthermore, in contrast to the other apoplastic loaders, photosynthetic acclimation in tomato was not complete following a transfer from LL to HL. This suggests that loading vein density and loading cells per sieve element, and thus apparent loading surface capacity, play a major role in the potential for photosynthetic acclimation to changes in light environment. Photosynthetic acclimation and vein density acclimation were also characterized in the slow-growing, sclerophytic evergreen Monstera deliciosa. This evergreen possessed a lower vein density during growth in LL compared to HL and exhibited a more severely limited potential for photosynthetic acclimation to increases in light environment than the rapidly-growing, mesophytic annuals.

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Abbreviations

A:

Antheraxanthin

CC:

Companion cell

HL:

High light

LL:

Low light

PC:

Phloem parenchyma cell

PFD:

Photon flux density

SE:

Sieve element

TC:

Transfer cell

V:

Violaxanthin

Z:

Zeaxanthin

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Acknowledgments

The financial support of the National Science Foundation (Awards IBN-0235351 to W.W.A. and B.D.-A. and IBN-0235709 to R.T.) and the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (Agreement No. 00-35100-9564) is gratefully acknowledged. We thank Dr. Tom Giddings for his support and guidance with electron microscopy, and Drs. Todd N. Rosenstiel and Brandon Moore for the carbohydrate analyses of M. deliciosa.

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Author notes

  1. Véronique Amiard

    Present address: Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, Unidad de Biotecnología, INIA Carillanca, Casilla 58-D, Temuco, Chile

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 80309-0334, USA

    William W. Adams III, Amy M. Watson, Kristine E. Mueh, Véronique Amiard, Volker Ebbert & Barbara Demmig-Adams

  2. Department of Plant Biology, Cornell University, 256 Plant Science Building, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA

    Robert Turgeon

  3. Department of Biology, Bowdoin College, 6500 College Station, Brunswick, ME, 04011, USA

    Barry A. Logan & Andrew F. Combs

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  1. William W. Adams III
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  2. Amy M. Watson
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  9. Barbara Demmig-Adams
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Correspondence to William W. Adams III.

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Adams, W.W., Watson, A.M., Mueh, K.E. et al. Photosynthetic acclimation in the context of structural constraints to carbon export from leaves. Photosynth Res 94, 455–466 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-006-9123-3

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