Authors: Daniel Berveiller Claire Damesin
Publish Date: 2007/12/19
Volume: 22, Issue: 2, Pages: 149-157
Abstract
In woody species the photosynthesis of stems especially young branches occurs by refixing part of the internal respiratory CO2 The present study aims to improve the physiological characterization of stem photosynthesis by examining enzymatic characteristics During an entire growing season three enzymatic activities that are linked to C3 and C4 metabolism were investigated in relation to the CO2 efflux and chlorophyll content of current year stems of European beech and were compared to the corresponding characteristics of leaves High activities of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase PEPC and NADP malic enzyme were detected in stems up to 13 times and 30 times higher in stems than in leaves respectively whereas Rubisco activity remained low in comparison with leaves Stem maximal Rubisco and PEPC activities occurred at the beginning of the season when the total chlorophyll content and the CO2 assimilation rate were also maximal Stems were characterized by a PEPCRubisco ratio that was equal to 25 an intermediate value between that of C3plants about 01 and that of C4plants about 10 whereas it was equal to 01 in leaves Eight other tree species were also measured and the PEPCRubisco ratio was on average equal to 36 The potential role of PEPC in stem carbon assimilation is discussed in relation to its known involvement in the anaplerotic function of C3 plants and in the carbon metabolism of the C4 pathwayThis research was financed by the French projects “Ministère délégué à la recherche—ACI Jeunes Chercheurs” no JC10009 and “Programme National ACI/FNS ECCO PNBC” convention no 0429 FNS The ESE laboratory is supported by the University Paris XI and CNRS
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