scholarly journals Manipulating phloem transport affects wood formation but not local nonstructural carbon reserves in an evergreen conifer

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Rademacher ◽  
Patrick Fonti ◽  
James M. LeMoine ◽  
Marina V. Fonti ◽  
David Basler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phloem Transport ◽  
Wood Formation ◽  
Evergreen Conifer

scholarly journals Manipulating phloem transport affects wood formation but not local nonstructural carbon reserves in an evergreen conifer

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Rademacher ◽  
Patrick Fonti ◽  
James LeMoine ◽  
Marina Fonti ◽  
David Basler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Allocation ◽  
Phloem Transport ◽  
Wood Formation ◽  
Structural Development ◽  
Wall Area ◽  
Carbon Supply ◽  
Organ Specific ◽  
Ecosystem Level ◽  
Evergreen Conifer ◽  
Carbon Concentrations

How variations in carbon supply affect wood formation remains poorly understood in particular in mature forest trees. To elucidate how carbon supply affects carbon allocation and wood formation, we attempted to manipulate carbon supply to the cambial region by phloem girdling and compression during the mid- and late-growing season and measured effects on structural development, CO efflux, and nonstructural carbon reserves in stems of mature white pines. Wood formation and stem CO efflux varied with location relative to treatment (i.e., above or below the restriction). We observed up to twice as many tracheids formed above versus below the treatment after the phloem transport manipulation, whereas cell-wall area decreased only slightly below the treatments, and cell size did not change relative to the control. Nonstructural carbon reserves in the xylem, needles, and roots were largely unaffected by the treatments. Our results suggest that low and high carbon supply affects wood formation, primarily through a strong effect on cell proliferation, and respiration, but local nonstructural carbon concentrations appear to be maintained homeostatically. This contrasts with reports of a decoupling of source activity and wood formation at the whole-tree or ecosystem level, highlighting the need to better understand organ-specific responses, within-tree feedbacks, as well as phenological and ontological effects on sink-source dynamics.

scholarly journals Manipulating phloem transport affects wood formation but not nonstructural carbon concentrations in an evergreen conifer

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Rademacher ◽  
Patrick Fonti ◽  
James M. LeMoine ◽  
Marina V. Fonti ◽  
David Basler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phloem Transport ◽  
Wood Formation ◽  
White Pine ◽  
Stem Respiration ◽  
Wall Area ◽  
Carbon Supply ◽  
Cambial Zone ◽  
Evergreen Conifer ◽  
Carbon Concentrations

AbstractWood formation is a crucial process for carbon sequestration, yet how variations in carbon supply affect wood formation and carbon dynamics in trees more generally remains poorly understood.To better understand the role of carbon supply in wood formation, we restricted phloem transport using girdling and compression around the stem of mature white pines and monitored the effects on local wood formation and stem CO2 efflux, as well as nonstructural carbon concentrations in needles, stems, and roots.Growth and stem CO2 efflux varied with location relative to treatment (i.e., above or below on the stem). We observed up to a two-fold difference in the number of tracheids formed above versus below the manipulations over the remaining growing season. In contrast, the treatments did not affect mean cell size noticeably and mean cell-wall area decreased only slightly below them. Surprisingly, nonstructural carbon pools and concentrations in the xylem, needles, and roots remained largely unchanged, although starch reserves declined and increased marginally below and above the girdle, respectively.Our results suggest that phloem transport strongly affects cell proliferation and respiration in the cambial zone of mature white pine, but has little impact on nonstructural carbon concentrations. These findings contribute to our understanding of how wood formation is controlled.HighlightRestrictions in phloem transport designed to affect carbon supply, lead to changes in wood formation and stem respiration of mature white pines without substantially changing local nonstructural carbon concentrations.

scholarly journals Potassium Control of Plant Functions: Ecological and Agricultural Implications

Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 419
Author(s):  
Jordi Sardans ◽  
Josep Peñuelas
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Stress Responses ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystem ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Wood Formation ◽  
Cellular Growth ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Metabolite Transport ◽  
Physiological Functions

Potassium, mostly as a cation (K+), together with calcium (Ca2+) are the most abundant inorganic chemicals in plant cellular media, but they are rarely discussed. K+ is not a component of molecular or macromolecular plant structures, thus it is more difficult to link it to concrete metabolic pathways than nitrogen or phosphorus. Over the last two decades, many studies have reported on the role of K+ in several physiological functions, including controlling cellular growth and wood formation, xylem–phloem water content and movement, nutrient and metabolite transport, and stress responses. In this paper, we present an overview of contemporary findings associating K+ with various plant functions, emphasizing plant-mediated responses to environmental abiotic and biotic shifts and stresses by controlling transmembrane potentials and water, nutrient, and metabolite transport. These essential roles of K+ account for its high concentrations in the most active plant organs, such as leaves, and are consistent with the increasing number of ecological and agricultural studies that report K+ as a key element in the function and structure of terrestrial ecosystems, crop production, and global food security. We synthesized these roles from an integrated perspective, considering the metabolic and physiological functions of individual plants and their complex roles in terrestrial ecosystem functions and food security within the current context of ongoing global change. Thus, we provide a bridge between studies of K+ at the plant and ecological levels to ultimately claim that K+ should be considered at least at a level similar to N and P in terrestrial ecological studies.

scholarly journals Functional Characterisation of the Poplar Atypical Aspartic Protease Gene PtAP66 in Wood Secondary Cell Wall Deposition

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 1002
Author(s):  
Shenquan Cao ◽  
Cong Wang ◽  
Huanhuan Ji ◽  
Mengjie Guo ◽  
Jiyao Cheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Wall ◽  
Secondary Cell Wall ◽  
Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Secondary Xylem ◽  
Populus Trichocarpa ◽  
Wood Formation ◽  
Protease Gene ◽  
Cellulose Content ◽  
Transcription Analysis ◽  
Functional Characterisation

Secondary cell wall (SCW) deposition is an important process during wood formation. Although aspartic proteases (APs) have been reported to have regulatory roles in herbaceous plants, the involvement of atypical APs in SCW deposition in trees has not been reported. In this study, we characterised the Populus trichocarpa atypical AP gene PtAP66, which is involved in wood SCW deposition. Transcriptome data from the AspWood resource showed that in the secondary xylem of P. trichocarpa, PtAP66 transcripts increased from the vascular cambium to the xylem cell expansion region and maintained high levels in the SCW formation region. Fluorescent signals from transgenic Arabidopsis plant roots and transiently transformed P. trichocarpa leaf protoplasts strongly suggested that the PtAP66-fused fluorescent protein (PtAP66-GFP or PtAP66-YFP) localised in the plasma membrane. Compared with the wild-type plants, the Cas9/gRNA-induced PtAP66 mutants exhibited reduced SCW thickness of secondary xylem fibres, as suggested by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) data. In addition, wood composition assays revealed that the cellulose content in the mutants decreased by 4.90–5.57%. Transcription analysis further showed that a loss of PtAP66 downregulated the expression of several SCW synthesis-related genes, including cellulose and hemicellulose synthesis enzyme-encoding genes. Altogether, these findings indicate that atypical PtAP66 plays an important role in SCW deposition during wood formation.

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