Photosynthetic activity and chloroplast structural characteristics in triazine-resistant biotypes of three weed species

Triazine-resistant (R) and susceptible (S) biotypes of Chenopodium album, Conyza bonaeriensis and Setaria glauca were compared in terms of photosynthetic activity, chloroplast ultrastructure, and polar-lipid composition of thylakoid membranes. Concerning photosynthetic activity, R relative to S biotypes showed lower rates in photosystem II electron transport (R/S ratios in the 0.3-0.5 range), which were correlated with increases in the ratio of I to P levels of the fluorescence emission curve, but similar rates in both whole-chain electron transport by thylakoids and photosynthetic oxygen evolution at different light intensities and at temperatures of 20 and 30°C by leaf discs. Concerning chloroplast structural characteristics, R and S biotypes did not show differences in degree of thylakoid appression and chlorophyll a/b ratio. However, thylakoid polar-lipids of R biotypes exhibited a higher degree of unsaturation, specially, in its monogalactosyl diglyceride fraction; they were richer in trans-hexadecenoic acid in its phospholipid fraction and they had higher contents in monoglactosyl diglyceride. The above results are discussed in relation to possible differences in photosynthetic performance between R and S plants.