Population biology of Ammophila breviligulata and Calamovilfa longifolia on Lake Huron sand dunes. II. Ultrastructure of organelles and photosynthetic properties

1986 ◽  
Vol 64 (9) ◽  
pp. 2151-2159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beverly Elfman ◽  
M. A. Maun ◽  
W. G. Hopkins

Organellar ultrastructure and photosynthetic properties of two grasses, Calamovilfa longifolia (Hook) Scribn. and Ammophila breviligulata Fern., growing on Lake Huron sand dunes were compared. Thylakoids of C. longifolia contained a relatively greater complement of the photosystem I (PSI) – chlorophyll a – protein complex, whereas thylakoids from A. breviligulata had a relatively greater complement of light-harvesting chlorophyll a + b complex. The chlorophyll a/b ratios of the mesophyll chloroplast thykaloids reflected the content of chlorophyll–protein complexes present in the membranes. Digitonin fractionation of mesophyll thylakoids from C. longifolia revealed that the PSI-enriched fraction contained more chlorophyll than the photosystem II (PSII) enriched fraction. Conversely, the PSII-enriched fraction accounted for the larger proportion of total chlorophyll in thylakoids from A. breviligulata. Whole chain electron transport (PSII + PSI) activity was greater in C. longifolia mesophyll thylakoids, at all light intensities. Chloroplast and mitochondrial ultrastructure were compared. The bundle sheath chloroplasts of C. longifolia contain extensive grana stacking and are distributed throughout the cell. The mitochondria of the bundle sheath and mesophyll cells are strikingly dimorphic. A suberin lamella is apparently absent from the bundle sheath cell walls. These results support the designation of C. longifolia as a C4 species of the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide – malic enzyme type.

1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 1267-1270 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Maun

Changes in vegetation and physiography of Lake Huron shoreline were studied by recording total counts and by comparing photographs taken in 1977, 1985, and 1987. In 1977, a large number of annual and biennial plant species such as Cakile edentula, Corispermum hyssopifolium, Salsola kali, Euphorbia polygonifolia, Artemisia campestris, and Oenothera biennis were found growing in association with two perennial grasses, Calamovilfa longifolia and Andropogon scoparius. Ammophila breviligulata was absent at that time, but became abundant through establishment of ramets from rhizome fragments after the storms of 1979 and 1981. Two damaging storms, one in October 1986 and the second in April 1987, wiped out almost all of Ammophila breviligulata, leaving a few remnant shoots among clumps of Calamovilfa longifolia. Observations suggest that the low density (two shoots∙m−2) of Ammophila breviligulata tillers among Calamovilfa longifolia populations on the first dune ridge has resulted from landward extensions of plagiotropic rhizomes from the once abundant Ammophila breviligulata populations on the lakeward end of the beach.


1985 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Maun

Some aspects of the population biology of two dune-forming perennial grasses, Ammophila breviligulata Fern. and Calamovilfa longifolia (Hook) Scribn., growing along Lake Huron shoreline, were investigated under natural and controlled conditions. Plants of A. breviligulata exhibit erratic flowering, ranging from no panicles in some areas to 16 per hundred tillers in others. Calamovilfa longifolia plants occur as single clumps of varying diameters and flower profusely. Ammophila breviligulata expands into adjacent areas by producing plagiotropic rhizomes ranging in length from 1 to several m and then producing ramets on some of the nodes. Such a growth form is best suited for rapid colonization of bare areas. Clumps of C. longifolia expand outward in concentric circles through the development of diving rhizomes, and the radius of a clump increases by about 15 to 31 cm per year. This growth form is well suited for local occupancy. Ammophila breviligulata is more tolerant of burial (100 cm) in sand than C. longifolia (60 cm). Calamovilfa longifolia produces larger number of caryopses per square metre than A. breviligulata. The weight per caryopsis of both species is similar, but the significantly greater surface area per fruit of A. breviligulata improves its flotation ability in water, thus facilitating long-distance dispersal of fruits. Establishment of C. longifolia plants under natural conditions occurred almost exclusively from seedlings. In contrast, the establishment of A. breviligulata seedlings was rare and almost all new plants along the beach originated from clonal fragments cast on the drift line by high waves.


1981 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 460-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Maun

Caryopses ("seeds") of Calamovilfa longifolia (Hook.) Scribn. are dimorphic (brown and white) and are each enclosed in a lemma and palea. The most complete germination was obtained in lighted (fluorescent light of 1600 lx) growth chambers set at alternating temperatures of 25 °C day (14 h) and 10 °C night. Seed stratification did not increase total germination but the rate of germination was increased. The seeds imbibed about 50% by weight of water before germination was initiated.Under field conditions seeds accumulated in depressions. Seedlings failed to emerge from depths greater than 6 cm. The survival rate of seedlings was very low (0.5%) during 1978 because of a dry summer but was considerably higher in 1979 on south slopes (33%), under willow clumps (44%), and on north slopes (56%). Seedling mortality was due to high soil temperatures, desiccation, burial or exposure of seedlings, and biotic agents. Seedlings emerged from the soil mainly by elongation of the first internode. The coleoptile seemed to act as a protective sheath against high soil temperatures for the growing point enclosed within it. A significantly linear increase in height of seedlings, root length, and number of leaves occurred with an increase in the age of seedlings during both years.


Genetics ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 159 (2) ◽  
pp. 787-797
Author(s):  
Lizzie Cribb ◽  
Lisa N Hall ◽  
Jane A Langdale

Abstract Maize leaf blades differentiate dimorphic photosynthetic cell types, the bundle sheath and mesophyll, between which the reactions of C4 photosynthesis are partitioned. Leaf-like organs of maize such as husk leaves, however, develop a C3 pattern of differentiation whereby ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase (RuBPCase) accumulates in all photosynthetic cell types. The Golden2 (G2) gene has previously been shown to play a role in bundle sheath cell differentiation in C4 leaf blades and to play a less well-defined role in C3 maize tissues. To further analyze G2 gene function in maize, four g2 mutations have been characterized. Three of these mutations were induced by the transposable element Spm. In g2-bsd1-m1 and g2-bsd1-s1, the element is inserted in the second intron and in g2-pg14 the element is inserted in the promoter. In the fourth case, g2-R, four amino acid changes and premature polyadenylation of the G2 transcript are observed. The phenotypes conditioned by these four mutations demonstrate that the primary role of G2 in C4 leaf blades is to promote bundle sheath cell chloroplast development. C4 photosynthetic enzymes can accumulate in both bundle sheath and mesophyll cells in the absence of G2. In C3 tissue, however, G2 influences both chloroplast differentiation and photosynthetic enzyme accumulation patterns. On the basis of the phenotypic data obtained, a model that postulates how G2 acts to facilitate C4 and C3 patterns of tissue development is proposed.


Plants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 26
Author(s):  
Ghulam Mustafa ◽  
Muhammad Sarwar Khan

We report here plastid transformation in sugarcane using biolistic transformation and embryogenesis-based regeneration approaches. Somatic embryos were developed from unfurled leaf sections, containing preprogrammed progenitor cells, to recover transformation events on antibiotic-containing regeneration medium. After developing a proficient regeneration system, the FLARE-S (fluorescent antibiotic resistance enzyme, spectinomycin and streptomycin) expression cassette that carries species-specific homologous sequence tails was used to transform plastids and track gene transmission and expression in sugarcane. Plants regenerated from streptomycin-resistant and genetically confirmed shoots were subjected to visual detection of the fluorescent enzyme using a fluorescent stereomicroscope, after genetic confirmation. The resultant heteroplasmic shoots remained to segregate on streptomycin-containing MS medium, referring to the unique pattern of division and sorting of cells in C4 monocotyledonous compared to C3 monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants since in sugarcane bundle sheath and mesophyll cells are distinct and sort independently after division. Hence, the transformation of either mesophyll or bundle sheath cells will develop heteroplasmic transgenic plants, suggesting the transformation of both types of cells. Whilst developed transgenic sugarcane plants are heteroplasmic, and selection-based regeneration protocol envisaging the role of division and sorting of cells in the purification of transplastomic demands further improvement, the study has established many parameters that may open up exciting possibilities to express genes of agricultural or pharmaceutical importance in sugarcane.


1974 ◽  
Vol 52 (12) ◽  
pp. 2599-2605 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. K. M. Rathnam ◽  
V. S. R. Das

The intercellular and intracellular distributions of nitrate assimilating enzymes were studied. Nitrate reductase was found to be localized on the chloroplast envelope membranes. The chloroplastic NADPH – glutamate dehydrogenase was concentrated in the mesophyll cells. The extrachloroplastic NADH – glutamate dehydrogenase was localized in the bundle sheath cells. Glutamate synthesized in the mesophyll chloroplasts was interpreted to be utilized exclusively in the synthesis of aspartate, while in the bundle sheath cells it was thought to be consumed in other cellular metabolic processes. Based on the results, a scheme is proposed to account for the nitrate metabolism in the leaves of Eleusine coracana Gaertn. in relation to its aspartate-type C-4 pathway of photosynthesis.


1991 ◽  
Vol 69 (7) ◽  
pp. 1593-1599 ◽  
Author(s):  
César S. B. Costa ◽  
Ulrich Seeliger ◽  
César V. Cordazzo

We studied the effect of nutrient status and sand movement on the population biology of Panicum racemosum Spreng. over a 5-year period (1982–1986) on mobile, semifixed and fixed coastal foredune habitats in southern Brazil. The soils were deficient in nitrate, phosphate, and potassium (<0.5, 0.2–1.2, and 3–5 mg/kg, respectively) in all habitats, and a gradient of decreasing availability existed from the mobile to the fixed dunes. Half-lives of leaves were shorter in the fixed dune as compared with the mobile dune. Similarly, half-lives of leaves were shorter in summer than in winter. Experiments using cuttings of P. racemosum tillers showed that as P. racemosum plants grew, so did the deposition of sand on mobile foredunes. The mechanical deposition of sand itself did not stimulate P. racemosum growth. The deposition of saline sand provided a substrate that supported vertical growth of P. racemosum rhizomes and tillers and was a source of adsorbed nutrients. Also, active sand deposition limited the invasion of frontal dunes by other species. Panicum racemosum populations changed from "invader" to "mature" to "regressive" age states over a 5-year period, apparently in response to the spatial patterns of sand deposition and salt spray input. Key words: Panicum, leaf demography, growth vigour, sand dunes, temporal changes.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document