Increasing leaf glutathione through stem feeding does not acclimate Eucalyptus camaldulensis seedlings towards high-light stress |
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Authors: | Raymond William Dempsey Andrew Merchant and Michael Tausz |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Forest and Ecosystem Science, Melbourne School of Land and Environment, University of Melbourne, Creswick, VIC, 3363, Australia;(2) Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia |
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Abstract: | Elevated foliar concentrations of glutathione (GSH) are a common stress response and potentially crucial in conferring increased
stress tolerance. The present study addressed the following questions: can increased foliar GSH levels be achieved in the
short term by applying a stem feeding technique to tree seedlings? If yes, will elevated GSH concentrations provide improved
tolerance to the adverse effects of high-light stress? To this end Eucalyptus camaldulensis seedlings were stem fed a 5 mM GSH solution for 6–7 h before subjecting them to high-light exposure designed to induce photoinhibition.
GSH in leaves was measured using a standard photometric method, and the effect of the high-light treatment was evaluated by
the decrease in the optimum quantum efficiency of photosystem II (PSII) measured by chlorophyll fluorescence (F
v/F
m). Stem feeding GSH significantly increased GSH concentrations in the leaves up to 40% above control plants. Exposure to artificial
high-light intensity for 3 h induced significant photoinhibition in leaves, measured by a 15% decrease in F
v/F
m. At the same time, photosynthesis and stomatal conductance measurements indicated that leaf physiology was not disrupted
as a result of the stem feeding technique. However, we have no indication that elevated GSH increased tolerance; neither did
it increase sensitivity of plants to high light-induced photoinhibition. This result was accompanied by maintained rates of
photochemistry before and after light stress. Unlike previous GSH-related experiments increased tolerance by increasing the
rate of photochemistry was not achieved in the present experiment. |
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Keywords: | |
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