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Drought stress memory in the photosynthetic mechanisms of an invasive CAM species, Aptenia cordifolia

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Abstract

Plants are known for their high capacity to acclimatise to fluctuating environmental conditions. A wide range of environmental conditions can lead to suboptimal physiological efficiency. However, recent studies have shown that plants can withstand repeated periods of stress. To find out how they do it, we studied photosynthetic adjustments to repeated water stress in Aptenia cordifolia: a facultative, invasive CAM species. Plants were subjected to three cycles of water deficit, and photosynthetic parameters and chloroplast antioxidants were quantified to gain an understanding of the mechanisms by which they cope with repeated stress periods. Significant modification of the photosystems’ antenna and reaction centres was observed in plants subjected to previous water stress cycles, and this led to higher PSII efficiency than in plants challenged with drought for the first time. These findings underline the biological significance of stress memory and show how plants can adjust their photosynthetic apparatus to fluctuating environmental conditions and thus optimise photosynthesis and photoprotection under drought conditions.

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Abbreviations

Chl:

Chlorophyll

HPLC:

High-performance liquid chromatography

PS:

Photosystem

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

Toc:

Tocopherol

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Servei de Camps Experimentals and Serveis Científico-tècnics (Universitat de Barcelona) for their technical assistance. We are very grateful to the Generalitat de Catalunya’s Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya for recording and providing the meteorological data. We also thank Jana Cela and Verónica Tijero for their help with sampling, as well as the journal editor and reviewers who helped to improve the manuscript. We are also very grateful to Toffa Evans from the Language Services (University of Barcelona) for English corrections. M.P.-M. was supported by a fellowship from the Generalitat de Catalunya (2013 BP-B 00235). Support for the research was provided through the ICREA Academia prize awarded to S.M.-B. by the Generalitat de Catalunya.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departament de Biologia Vegetal, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Avinguda Diagonal 643, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Marta Pintó-Marijuan, Alba Cotado, Eva Fleta-Soriano & Sergi Munné-Bosch

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  1. Marta Pintó-Marijuan
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  2. Alba Cotado
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  3. Eva Fleta-Soriano
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  4. Sergi Munné-Bosch
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Correspondence to Marta Pintó-Marijuan.

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Pintó-Marijuan, M., Cotado, A., Fleta-Soriano, E. et al. Drought stress memory in the photosynthetic mechanisms of an invasive CAM species, Aptenia cordifolia . Photosynth Res 131, 241–253 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-016-0313-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-016-0313-3

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