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Monitoring moderate Cu and Cd toxicity by chlorophyll fluorescence and P700 absorbance in pea leaves

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Photosynthetica

Abstract

We investigated the effect of moderate Cu2+ and Cd2+ stress by applying chlorophyll (Chl) fluorescence and P700 absorbance measurements to monitor the photosynthetic electron transport activity of 3-week-old Pisum sativum L. cv. Petit Provençal plants grown in a modified Hoagland solution containing 50 μM CuSO4 or 5 μM CdCl2. Both heavy metals caused a slight inhibition in PSII photochemistry as indicated by the decrease in the effective quantum efficiency of PSII (ΦPSII), the maximum electron transport capacity (ETRmax), and the maximum quantum yield for electron transport (α). PSI photochemistry was also affected by these heavy metals. Cu2+ and Cd2+ decreased the quantum efficiency of PSI (ΦPSI) as well as the number of electrons in the intersystem chain, and the Cu2+ treatment significantly reduced the number of electrons from stromal donors available for PSI. These results indicate that PSII and PSI photochemistry of pea plants are both sensitive to moderate Cu2+ and Cd2+ stress, which in turn is easily detected and monitored by Chl fluorescence and P700 absorbance measurements. Therefore, monitoring the photochemistry of pea plants with these noninvasive, yet sensitive techniques offers a promising strategy to study heavy metal toxicity in the environment.

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Abbreviations

AL:

actinic light

Chl:

chlorophyll

DCMU:

3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea

ETR:

apparent electron transport rate

ETRmax :

maximum electron transport capacity

Fm :

maximum fluorescence yield in the dark

Fm′:

maximum fluorescence yield in the light-adapted state

Fo :

minimum fluorescence yield in the dark

Fs :

steady-state fluorescence yield during actinic illumination

Fv/Fm :

maximum photochemical efficiency of PSII

MV:

methyl viologen

NPQ:

nonphotochemical quenching

OEC:

oxygen-evolving complex

P700 :

photosystem I reaction center

PPFD:

photosynthetic photon flux density

PS:

photosystem

α:

maximum quantum yield for electron transport

ΦPSI :

quantum efficiency of PSI

ΦPSII :

effective quantum efficiency of PSII

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Biology, Faculty of Science and Informatics, University of Szeged, P.O. Box 654, H-6701, Szeged, Hungary

    B. Wodala, G. Eitel, T. N. Gyula, A. Ördög & F. Horváth

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  1. B. Wodala
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  2. G. Eitel
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  3. T. N. Gyula
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  4. A. Ördög
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  5. F. Horváth
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Correspondence to B. Wodala.

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Acknowledgements: We thank Dr. Irma Tari for discussion and critical reading of the manuscript. This work was supported by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (grant no. OTKA K 81471).

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Wodala, B., Eitel, G., Gyula, T.N. et al. Monitoring moderate Cu and Cd toxicity by chlorophyll fluorescence and P700 absorbance in pea leaves. Photosynthetica 50, 380–386 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11099-012-0045-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11099-012-0045-3

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