Induction and reversal of crassulacean acid metabolism in Calandrinia polyandra: effects of soil moisture and nutrients

Winter, Klaus, and Holtum, Joseph A.M. (2011) Induction and reversal of crassulacean acid metabolism in Calandrinia polyandra: effects of soil moisture and nutrients. Functional Plant Biology, 38 (7). pp. 576-582.

[img] PDF (Published Version) - Published Version
Restricted to Repository staff only

View at Publisher Website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/FP11028
 
35
4


Abstract

Calandrinia polyandra Benth. (Montiaceae), an annual succulent herb endemic to Australia, is an exemplary facultative crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) plant as demonstrated by continuous whole-plant lifetime CO2 exchange measurements under controlled conditions in the laboratory. Reduced soil water availability induced a shift from solely daytime CO2 fixation to dark CO2 fixation. The shift from C3 photosynthesis to CAM was reversible either upon rewatering alone, or upon a combination of rewatering and addition of nutrients. These observations highlight the role of edaphic conditions in controlling CAM expression in a plant that has the option of fixing CO2 either during the day or during the night, providing further evidence that this extreme form of photosynthetic plasticity is primarily controlled by the environment rather than plant ontogeny. The stimulating effect of soil nutrients on CO2 fixation in the light and its negative effect on dark CO2 fixation have not been described previously and deserve further attention. In the most widely used CAM model system, the halophytic Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L., CAM is typically induced by high salinity, and some metabolic responses may be CAM-unrelated and related to salt stress per se. C. polyandra could be an excellent complementary system for studying the biochemical and molecular foundations of CAM because drought stress elicits a complete C3 to CAM transition.

Item ID: 17673
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1445-4416
Keywords: constitutive CAM, Parakeelya, Portulacaceae
Date Deposited: 11 Aug 2011 07:27
FoR Codes: 06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0607 Plant Biology > 060705 Plant Physiology @ 100%
SEO Codes: 97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences @ 100%
Downloads: Total: 4
More Statistics

Actions (Repository Staff Only)

Item Control Page Item Control Page