Long-term hydraulic acclimation to soil texture and radiation load in cotton

The concept of root contact hypothesizes that the absorbing roots grown in sandy soil are only partially effective in water uptake. Co-ordination of water supply and demand in the plant requires that the capacity for water uptake from the soil should correspond to an operational rate of water loss from the leaves. To examine how the plant hydraulic system responds to variations in soil texture or evaporative demand through long-term acclimation, an experiment was carried on cotton plants (Gossypium herbaceum L.), where three grades of soil texture and three grades of evaporative demand were applied for the whole life cycle of the plants. Plants were harvested 50 and 90 d (fully grown) after sowing and root length and leaf area measured. At 90 d hydraulic conductance was measured as the ratio of sap flow (measured with sap flow sensors or gravimetrically) and water potential. Results showed that for plants grown at the same evaporative demand, those in sandy soil, where root-specific hydraulic conductance was low, developed more absorbing roots than those grown in heavy-textured soil, where root specific conductance was high. This resulted in the same leaf specific hydraulic conductance (1.8 × 10⁻⁴ kg s⁻¹ Mpa⁻¹ m⁻²) for all three soils. For plants grown in the same sandy soil, those subjected to strong evaporative demand developed more absorbing roots and higher leaf-specific hydraulic conductance than those grown under mild evaporative demand. It is concluded that when soil texture or atmospheric evaporative demand varies, plants co-ordinate their capacities for liquid phase and vapour phase water transport through long-term acclimation of the hydraulic system, or plastic morphological adaptation of the root/leaf ratio.     

Isolation of MTX-resistant Cell Line NP-19 of Nicotiana plumbaginifolia: Phenotypic, Genetic and Biochemical Study

Several cell lines of Nicotiana plumbaginifolia resistant tomethotrexate (MTX) were isolated upon gradual elevation of theMTX concentration in the growth medium. One of the MTX-resistantcell lines, NP-19, acquired resistance to 10 mmol m^–3MTX, that is, at least 50-fold higher than the lethal dose forthe wild-type cell suspension. Its resistance was stably maintainedupon prolonged withdrawal of the drug. The acquisition of resistancewas accompanied by severe deterioration of regeneration potential.Regenerated shoots still manifested resistance to 50 mmol m^–3.MTX-resistant colonies and tiny shoots were recovered followingasymmetric fusion between -irradiated NP-19 protoplasts andN. plumbaginifolia leaf mesophyll-derived protoplasts on a mediumcontaining 10 mmol m^–3 MTX. The development of the shootsderived both from NP-19 calli and following somatic fusion wasarrested at the stage of 6–8 leaves. No difference wasfound in uptake of ³H-MTX between cell suspension of NP-19 andthe parental cell line. A 30-fold increase in binding of ³H-MTXto protein extract was found in cell line NP-19, suggestingdifferential capacity of MTX binding as a mechanism involvedin the MTX resistance of this cell line. Since differentiatedorgans seem more sensitive to MTX than undifferentiated tissues,this cell line is a promising source for a gene(s) conferringenhanced MTX-tolerance both in non-differentiated and differentiatedtissues. Key words: Methotrexate resistance, MTX-binding capacity, MTX uptake, tobacco cell culture     

应用热扩散法测定香蕉树蒸腾速率

香蕉树植株高大,一般采用间接方法确定耗水量,但所得结果受土壤、大气和农艺措施等因素的影响较大.本文于2005年11月15日—12月5日在温室内采用热扩散法（即Granier法）测定香蕉树的茎液流,并与用数字天平（称重法）测定的香蕉树蒸腾速率进行对比试验. 结果表明,Granier法测定的日茎液流量与称重法测定的日蒸腾量相差4％.Granier法测定的茎液流速率一般滞后于称重法确定的蒸腾速率1 h左右.当日蒸腾量小于0.05 L·m^-2（活性叶面积）时,Granier方法不能测定茎液流量.Granier传感器一般在安装2～3 d后即可正常工作,同时在多株植株上安装Granier传感器取其平均流速值计算蒸腾量可以明显减小测量误差.