Ecophysiology of Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM)

Large-Scale Sensing and Diagnosis in Relation to the Tropical Environment.- Tropical Forests. I. Physiognomy and Functional Structure.- Tropical Forests. II. Ecophysiological Responses to Light.- Tropical Forests. III. Ecophysiological Responses to Drought.- Tropical Forests. IV. Lianas, Hemi-Epiphytes, Epiphytes and Mistletoes.- Tropical Forests. V. Mangroves.- Ecosystems of Coastal Sand Plains.- Savannas. I. Physiognomy, Terminology and Ecotones: Why Do Savannas Exist?.- Savannas. II. The Environmental FactorsWater,Mineral Nutrients and Fire.- Inselbergs.- Paramos.

Physiological ecology of tropical plants

Acknowledgements. Introduction. A: Environment. 1. Global impact of salinity and agricultural ecosystems M.G. Pitman, A. Lauchli. 2. Salinity in the soil environment K.K. Tanji. 3. Salinity, halophytes and salt affected natural ecosystems S.-W. Breckle. B: Organisms. 4. Adaptation of halophilic Archaea to life at high salt concentrations A. Oren. 5. Adaptation of the haloterant alga Dunaliella to high salinity U. Pick. 6. Mangroves U. Luttge. C: Mechanisms. 7. Ultrastructural effects of salinity in higher plants H.-W. Koyro. 8. Intra- and inter-cellular compartmentation of ions - a study in specificity and plasticity G. Wyn Jones, J. Gorham. 9. Salinity, osmolytes and compatible solutes D. Rhodes, et al. 10. Sodium-calcium interactions under salinity stress G.R. Cramer. 11. Salinity and nitrogen nutrition W.R. Ullrich. 12. Pressure probe measurements of the driving forces for water transport in intact higher plants: effects of transpiration and salinity U. Zimmermann, et al. 13. Salinity, growth and phytohormones R. Munns. 14. The adaptive potential of plant development: evidence from the response to salinity G.N. Amzallag. D: Photosynthesis. 15. Influence of salinity on photosynthesis of halophytes C.E. Lovelock, M.C. Ball. 16. Performance of plants with C4-carboxylation modes of photosynthesis under salinity U. Luttge. 17. Induction of Crassulacean acid metabolism by salinity -- molecular aspects H.J. Bohnert.E: Molecules. 18. Function of membrane transport systems under salinity: plasma membrane L. Reinhold, M. Guy. 19. Function of membrane transport systems under salinity: tonoplast M. Binzel, R. Ratajczak. 20. Genetics of salinity responses and plant breeding J. Gorham, G.Wyn Jones. 21. Halotolerance genes in yeast R. Serrano. 22. The long and winding road to haloterance genes A. Maggio, et al. Index.

Salinity : environment - plants - molecules

The common ice plant is a facultative halophyte in which Crassulacean acid metabolism, a metabolic adaptation to arid environments, can be induced by irrigating plants with high levels of NaCl or by drought. This stress-induced metabolic transition is accompanied by up to a 50-fold increase in the activity of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPCase). To analyze the molecular basis of this plant response to water stress, we have isolated and characterized two members of the PEPCase gene family from the common ice plant. The PEPCase isogenes, designated Ppc1 and Ppc2, have conserved intron-exon organizations, are 76.4% identical at the nucleotide sequence level within exons, and encode predicted polypeptides with 83% amino acid identity. Steady-state levels of mRNAs from the two genes differ dramatically when plants are salt-stressed. Transcripts of Ppc1 increase about 30-fold in leaves within 5 days of salt stress. In contrast, steady-state levels of Ppc2 transcripts decrease slightly in leaf tissue over the same stress period. Steady-state levels of transcripts of both genes decrease in roots over 5 days of salt stress. We have used in vitro transcription assays with nuclei isolated from leaves to demonstrate that the increased expression of Ppc1 caused by water stress occurs in part at the transcriptional level.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/info/3868962

Salt stress leads to differential expression of two isogenes of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase during Crassulacean acid metabolism induction in the common ice plant.

Elucidating mechanisms underlying organ abscission

Peperomia camptotricha, a tropical epiphyte from Mexico, shows variable forms of Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM). Young leaves exhibit CAM-cycling, while mature leaves show an intermediate type of metabolism, between CAM and CAM-cycling, having approximately the same amount of nighttime gas exchange as daytime. Metabolism of young leaves appears independent of daylength, but mature leaves have a tendency toward more CAM-like metabolism under short days (8 hours). Large differences in the physical appearance of plants were found between those grown under short daylengths and those grown under long daylengths (14 hours). Some anatomical differences were also detected in the leaves. Water stress caused a switch to CAM in young and mature leaves, and as water stress increased, they shifted to CAM-idling.

Crassulacean Acid Metabolism and Crassulacean Acid Metabolism Modifications in Peperomia camptotricha.

Xerosicyos danguyi H.Humb. (Cucurbitaceae) is a Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) species native to Madagascar. Previously, it was shown that when grown under good water conditions, it is a typical CAM plant, but when water stressed, it shifts to a dampened form of CAM, termed CAM-idling, in which stomata are closed day and night but with a continued, low diurnal organic acid fluctuation. We have now studied the kinetics of some metabolic features of the shift from CAM to CAM-idling under severe water stress and the recovery upon rewatering. When water is withheld, there is a steady decrease in relative water content (RWC), reaching about 50%, at which point the water potential decreases precipitously from about -2 or -3 bars to -12 bars. Abscisic acid (ABA) increases sharply at about 75% RWC. Stomata close, which limits CO2 uptake, and there is a dampened diurnal organic acid fluctuation typical of CAM-idling. Throughout an extended stress period to 50% RWC, there is no change in chlorophyll, protein, and ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase activity compared with the well-watered plants. Despite the fact that the tissue was already in CAM, the stress is accompanied by an increase in phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPc) mRNA, extractable PEPc activity, and PEPc protein (such that the specific activity remained approximately constant) and a decrease in the apparent Km(PEP). It is not known if the changes in Km(PEP) in response to drought are related to or are separate from the increases in PEPc protein and mRNA. The changes in Km(PEP) could be in response to the decreased endogenous levels of organic acids, but evidently are not an assay artifact. The increases in PEPc protein and mRNA appear to be related to the water-stress treatment and may result from the increased concentration of ABA or the decreased levels of endogenous organic acids. When rewatered, the metabolism quickly returns to the well-watered control typical of CAM.

Effect of Severe Water Stress on Aspects of Crassulacean Acid Metabolism in Xerosicyos.

The stylar abscission bioassay was used to identify five stimulators of lemon (Citrus limon cv. Lisbon) abscission in pistil explants. The stimulators (N-phenyl-N′-1,2,3-thiadiazol-5-ylurea, N6-benzyladenine, kinetin, zeatin, and N6-isopentenyladenine), which are all cytokinins, accelerated the timing of expiant abscission when they were added as supplements (100 μM) to the test medium. To study possible relationships between cytokinins, ethylene, and abscission, we measured accumulating ethylene concentrations in sealed cultures and endogenous 1 -aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic aicd (ACC) in explants incubated on test medium plus or minus 100 μM N-phenyl-N′-1,2,3-thiadiazol-5-ylurea (thidiazuron), 100 μM N6-benzyladenine (bzl6Ade), or 2 μM picloram, an inhibitor of stylar abscission. Although ethylene accumulated to similar levels in all treatments, the concentrations obtained with picloram and thidiazuron were, respectively, higher and lower than those obtained in control cultures. The accumulation of ethylene in cultures with bzl6Ade, on the other hand, was not significantly different from controls. ACC concentrations in explants remained fairly constant in all treatments during the incubations, except in explants on thidiazuron, in which case the ACC concentration declined slightly. We conclude that cytokinins can stimulateCitrus abscissionin vitro and that this stimulation is not accompanied by marked effects on either measurable ethylene or ACC concentrations. Our finding that 100 μM aminoethoxyvinylglycine, an ethylene biosynthesis inhibitor, counteracts the stimulation of abscission by bzl6Ade suggests that a minimum level of ethylene production is required for the cytokinin effect. The possibility that cytokinins affect other aspects related to ethylene, such as biosynthetic rates, metabolism, or tissue retention, is not excluded by our results.

Cytokinin stimulation of abscission in lemon pistil explants

During the development of Peperomia camptotricha leaves, metabolism changes from C3-photosynthesis to Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM). The youngest leaves showed no diurnal fluctuation of organic acids or P-enolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPc) activity. There was little evidence for PEPc protein using PEPc antibodies prepared from the CAM form of PEPc, nor was there evidence for PEPc mRNA when tested using a cDNA probe made from CAM P. scandens. As leaves matured, there was a parallel increase in titratable acidity, PEPc activity, PEPc protein, and PEPc mRNA. In leaf whorls 1 through 6, there was a significant linear correlation between the diurnal fluctuation of organic acids and PEPc activity indicating a functional relationship. The specific activity of PEPc increased as leaves matured and the Km (PEP) decreased indicating that the enzyme was becoming more active. The ratio of PEPc protein to PEPc mRNA decreased as leaves matured. During the expression of CAM, the spongy mesophyll where most of the CAM activity occurs increased in thickness and per cent air space, whereas the palisade mesophyll where most of the C3 activity occurs did not increase in size dramatically. The diurnal fluctuation of organic acids and the expression of PEPc activity, protein, and mRNA increased as the thickness of the spongy mesophyll increased. During the expression of CAM in Peperomia camptotricha, there appears to be coordinated expression of PEPc mRNA, protein, and activity, the commencement of diurnal organic acid fluctuation, and the development of the CAM-like spongy mesophyll. Thus the evidence suggests that CAM in this species is expressed during normal development and not in response to environmental signals.

Expression of P‐Enolpyruvate Carboxylase and other Aspects of CAM during the Development of Peperomia camptotricha Leaves

Peperomia has species that may be C3, show Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM), or CAM-cycling. Species that show CAM progress from C3 to CAM through CAM-cycling during leaf development. In CAM and CAM-cycling species, CAM metabolism is predominately in the upper multiple epidermis and lower spongy mesophyll, whereas C3 metabolism is localized mostly in the palisade mesophyll. Using specific protein and cDNA probes prepared from P-enolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPc) and ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (Rubisco), we have now studied the differential distribution of photosynthetic metabolism in Peperomia leaves using the technique of tissue printing. The tissue printing studies detected Rubisco protein in leaves of C3 P. orba, but not PEPc. Young C3 leaves of P. scandens and P. camptotricha showed Rubisco protein, but not PEPc; however, the mature leaves of these two species that have CAM showed PEPc protein and RNAs in both the multiple epidermis and spongy mesophyll. In contrast, Rubisco protein and RNAs were present throughout the leaf. The tissue printing data are consistent with our previously published data showing the differential distribution of photosynthetic metabolism in leaves of Peperomia. Although the tissue printing technique is qualitative, coupled with quantitative data it has proven useful for the study of function related to structure. Peperomia Ruiz and Pavon (Peperomiaceae) is a predominately epiphytic genus with species that may show C3-photosynthesis, Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM), or an intermediate stage of CAM termed CAM-cycling in which stomata are open during the day, but with the

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2445490.pdf

Deborah L. Sipes

Papers

Crassulacean Acid Metabolism and Crassulacean Acid Metabolism Modifications in Peperomia camptotricha.

Effect of Severe Water Stress on Aspects of Crassulacean Acid Metabolism in Xerosicyos.

Cytokinin stimulation of abscission in lemon pistil explants

Expression of P‐Enolpyruvate Carboxylase and other Aspects of CAM during the Development of Peperomia camptotricha Leaves

Differential expression of photosynthesis genes in leaf tissue layers of peperomia as revealed by tissue printing