Abstract: Cuttings of Sesuvium portulacastrum L. (Aizoaceae) were taken from plants cultivated under severe saline conditions. The obtained seedlings were grown on sand and irrigated with nutrient solution over 5 weeks under no (0 mM NaCl), moderate (200 mM NaCl), or high (400 mM NaCl) salinity conditions. A follow-up of gas exchange was performed weekly and pigment levels and patterns of fully expanded leaves were determined after 3 and 5 weeks of treatment. At the end of the 5-week period, immunoblot analysis of the main polypeptides of photosystem I and II was performed with the aim to investigate salt-induced variations in photosystem composition. Net CO2 assimilation rate (Pn) increased under salinity up to 3 weeks of treatment then decreased to reach the value of 0mM-treated plants at the end of the experiment. For stomatal conductance (gs) and intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci), the opposite occurred. These results were concomitant with an increase in practically all pigment levels, mainly under high salinity, with the exception of zeaxanthin. The de-epoxidation index (DEPS index) was much lower under saline than non-saline conditions in the 3rd week, indicating light stress in 0mM-treated plants. At the end of the experiment, this index showed much lower values with no significant differences between treatments, which coincided with no significant differences in gas exchange as well. Protein amounts of D1, CP47, and CP43 did not show noticeable variations with salt treatment, whereas LHCII underwent a slight but significant decrease (-15%) at the highest NaCl concentration. LHCI polypeptides were unaffected by the salt treatments, where conversely, the highest concentration induced a significant decrease in PsaA/B amount (-18%).
Abstract: The interactive effects of root-zone salinity and sunlight on leaf biochemistry, with special emphasis on antioxidant defences, were analysed in Olea europaea L. cv. Allora, during the summer period. Plants were grown outside under 15% (shade plants) or 100% sunlight (sun plants) and supplied with 0 or 125 mM NaCl. The following measurements were performed: (1) the contribution of ions and soluble carbohydrates to osmotic potentials; (2) the photosystem II (PSII) photochemistry and the photosynthetic pigment concentration; (3) the concentration and the tissue-specific distribution of leaf flavonoids; (4) the activity of antioxidant enzymes; and (5) the leaf oxidative damage. The concentrations of Na(+) and Cl(-) were significantly greater in sun than in shade leaves, as also observed for the concentration of the 'antioxidant' sugar-alcohol mannitol. The de-epoxidation state of violaxanthin-cycle pigments increased in response to salinity stress in sun leaves. This finding agrees with a greater maximal PSII photochemistry (F(v)/F(m)) at midday, detected in salt-treated than in control plants, growing in full sunshine. By contrast, salt-treated plants in the shade suffered from midday depression in F(v)/F(m) to a greater degree than that observed in control plants. The high concentration of violaxanthin-cycle pigments in sun leaves suggests that zeaxanthin may protect the chloroplast from photo-oxidative damage, rather than dissipating excess excitation energy via non-photochemical quenching mechanisms. Dihydroxy B-ring-substituted flavonoid glycosides accumulate greatly in the mesophyll, not only in the epidermal cells, in response to high sunlight. The activity of antioxidant enzymes varied little because of sunlight irradiance, but declined sharply in response to high salinity in shade leaves. Interestingly, control and particularly salt-treated plants in the shade underwent greater oxidative damage than their sunny counterparts. These findings, which conform to the evolution of O. europaea in sunny environments, suggest that under partial shading, the antioxidant defence system may be ineffective to counter salt-induced oxidative damage.
Abstract: We studied the interactive effects of water stress and solar irradiance on physiological and biochemical traits in Ligustrum vulgare L., with special emphasis on antioxidant enzymes and flavonoids. Water relations, photosynthetic performance, plant growth, activities of antioxidant enzymes and of phenylalanine-ammonia-lyase, and concentrations of nonstructural carbohydrates and phenylpropanoids were measured in plants growing in 12% (shade) or 100% (sun) sunlight and supplied with 100 or 40% of daily evapotranspiration-demand over a 4-week period. The mild water stress treatment caused leaf water potential and relative water content to decline on average by -0.22 MPa and 4.5%, respectively. In response to the water stress treatment, photosynthetic rates decreased more in sun plants than in shade plants, likely because of declines in photosystem II photochemistry, apparent maximum rate of carboxylation and apparent maximum electron transport rate coupled with significant reductions in stomatal conductance. Antioxidant enzymatic activities, which were much greater in sun leaves than in shade leaves under well-watered conditions, increased (particularly the enzymatic activities associated with hydrogen peroxide removal) in response to water stress only in shade leaves. Antioxidant phenylpropanoids, particularly quercetin and luteolin derivatives, markedly increased in response to full sunlight irrespective of water treatment; however, antioxidant phenylpropanoid concentrations increased in response to water stress only in shade leaves. We suggest that: (1) assimilated carbon in sun plants was used largely to support an effective antioxidant system capable of countering water-stress-induced oxidative damage--an example of cross tolerance; and (2) in shade plants, carbon was also diverted from growth to counter oxidative damage driven by the mild water-stress treatment. Both findings are consistent with the nearly exclusive distribution of L. vulgare in well-watered, partially shaded Mediterranean areas.
Abstract: Salt- and light-induced changes in morpho-anatomical, physiological and biochemical traits were analysed in Myrtus communis and Pistacia lentiscus with a view to explaining their ecological distribution in the Mediterranean basin. In plants exposed to 20 or 100% solar radiation and supplied with 0 or 200 mm NaCl, measurements were conducted for ionic and water relations and photosynthetic performance, leaf morpho-anatomical and optical properties and tissue-specific accumulation of tannins and flavonoids. Net carbon gain and photosystem II (PSII) efficiency decreased less in P. lentiscus than in M. communis when exposed to salinity stress, the former having a superior ability to use Na(+) and Cl(-) for osmotic adjustment. Morpho-anatomical traits also allowed P. lentiscus to protect sensitive targets in the leaf from the combined action of salinity stress and high solar radiation to a greater degree than M. communis. Salt and light-induced increases in carbon allocated to polyphenols, particularly to flavonoids, were greater in M. communis than in P. lentiscus, and appeared to be related to leaf oxidative damage. Our data may conclusively explain the negligible distribution of M. communis in open Mediterranean areas suffering from salinity stress, and suggest a key antioxidant function of flavonoids in response to different stressful conditions.
Abstract: The role of flavonoids in mechanisms of acclimation to high solar radiation was analysed in Ligustrum vulgare and Phillyrea latifolia, two Mediterranean shrubs that have the same flavonoid composition but differ strikingly in their leaf morpho-anatomical traits. In plants exposed to 12 or 100% solar radiation, measurements were made for surface morphology and leaf anatomy; optical properties, photosynthetic pigments, and photosystem II efficiency; antioxidant enzymes, lipid peroxidation and phenylalanine ammonia lyase; synthesis of hydroxycinnamates and flavonoids; and the tissue-specific distribution of flavonoid aglycones and ortho-dihydroxylated B-ring flavonoid glycosides. A denser indumentum of glandular trichomes, coupled with both a thicker cuticle and a larger amount of cuticular flavonoids, allowed P. latifolia to prevent highly damaging solar wavelengths from reaching sensitive targets to a greater degree than L. vulgare. Antioxidant enzymes in P. latifolia were also more effective in countering light-induced oxidative load than those in L. vulgare. Consistently, light-induced accumulation of flavonoids in L. vulgare, particularly ortho-dihydroxylated flavonoids in the leaf mesophyll, greatly exceeded that in P. latifolia. We conclude that the accumulation of flavonoid glycosides associated with high solar radiation-induced oxidative stress and, hence, biosynthesis of flavonoids appear to be unrelated to 'tolerance' to high solar radiation in the species examined.
