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| Publication Type | J |
| Authors | Winter, K. and J. A. M. Holtum |
| Title | Environment or development? Lifetime net CO(2) exchange and control of the expression of crassulacean acid metabolism in Mesembryanthemum crystallinum |
| Source | Plant Physiology |
| Author Keywords | carbon-isotope composition common ice plant phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase photosynthetic characteristics delta-c-13 values clusia-uvitana cell-membranes messenger-rna water-content salt stress |
| Abstract | The relative influence of plant age and environmental stress signals in triggering a shift from C(3) photosynthesis to Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) in the annual halophytic C(3)-CAM species Mesembryanthemum crystallinum was explored by continuously monitoring net CO(2) exchange of whole shoots from the seedling stage until seed set. Plants exposed to high salinity (400 mM NaCl) in hydroponic culture solution or grown in saline-droughted soil acquired between 11% and 24% of their carbon via net dark CO(2) uptake involving CAM. In contrast, plants grown under nonsaline, well-watered conditions were capable of completing their life cycle by operating in the C(3) mode without ever exhibiting net CO(2) uptake at night. These observations are not consistent with the widely expressed view that the induction of CAM by high salinity in M. crystallinum represents an acceleration of preprogrammed developmental processes. Rather, our study demonstrates that the induction of the CAM pathway for carbon acquisition in M. crystallinum is under environmental control. |
| Author Address | Smithsonian Trop Res Inst, Ancon, Panama James Cook Univ N Queensland, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia Winter, K (reprint author), Smithsonian Trop Res Inst, Ancon, Panama winterk@si.edu |
| ISSN | 0032-0889 |
| ISBN | 0032-0889 |
| 29-Character Source Abbreviation | Plant Physiol. |
| Publication Date | Jan |
| Year Published | 2007 |
| Volume | 143 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Beginning Page | 98-107 |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | 10.1104/pp.106.088922 |
| Unique Article Identifier | WOS:000243350600013 |
| Plants associated with this reference |