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Media type:
E-Article
Title:
C4 plants use fluctuating light less efficiently than do C3 plants: a study of growth, photosynthesis and carbon isotope discrimination
Contributor:
Kubásek, Jiří;
Urban, Otmar;
Šantrůček, Jiří
imprint:
Wiley, 2013
Published in:Physiologia Plantarum
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1111/ppl.12057
ISSN:
0031-9317;
1399-3054
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
<jats:p>Plants in the field are commonly exposed to fluctuating light intensity, caused by variable cloud cover, self‐shading of leaves in the canopy and/or leaf movement due to turbulence. In contrast to <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">C<jats:sub>3</jats:sub></jats:styled-content> plant species, only little is known about the effects of dynamic light (DL) on photosynthesis and growth in <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">C<jats:sub>4</jats:sub></jats:styled-content> plants. Two <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">C<jats:sub>4</jats:sub></jats:styled-content> and two <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">C<jats:sub>3</jats:sub></jats:styled-content> monocot and eudicot species were grown under steady light or DL conditions with equal sum of daily incident photon flux. We measured leaf gas exchange, plant growth and dry matter carbon isotope discrimination to infer <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">CO<jats:sub>2</jats:sub></jats:styled-content> bundle sheath leakiness in <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">C<jats:sub>4</jats:sub></jats:styled-content> plants. The growth of all species was reduced by <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">DL</jats:styled-content>, despite only small changes in steady‐state gas exchange characteristics, and this effect was more pronounced in <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">C<jats:sub>4</jats:sub></jats:styled-content> than <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">C<jats:sub>3</jats:sub></jats:styled-content> species due to lower assimilation at light transitions. This was partially attributed to increased bundle sheath leakiness in <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">C<jats:sub>4</jats:sub></jats:styled-content> plants under the simulated lightfleck conditions. We hypothesize that DL leads to imbalances in the coordination of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">C<jats:sub>4</jats:sub></jats:styled-content> and <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">C<jats:sub>3</jats:sub></jats:styled-content> cycles and increasing leakiness, thereby decreasing the quantum efficiency of photosynthesis. In addition to their other constraints, the inability of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">C<jats:sub>4</jats:sub></jats:styled-content> plants to efficiently utilize fluctuating light likely contributes to their absence in such environments as forest understoreys.</jats:p>