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Low levels of ribosomal RNA partly account for the very high photosynthetic phosphorus-use efficiency of Proteaceae species.

ABSTRACT: Proteaceae species in south-western Australia occur on phosphorus- (P) impoverished soils. Their leaves contain very low P levels, but have relatively high rates of photosynthesis. We measured ribosomal RNA (rRNA) abundance, soluble protein, activities of several enzymes and glucose 6-phosphate (Glc6P) levels in expanding and mature leaves of six Proteaceae species in their natural habitat. The results were compared with those for Arabidopsis thaliana. Compared with A. thaliana, immature leaves of Proteaceae species contained very low levels of rRNA, especially plastidic rRNA. Proteaceae species showed slow development of the photosynthetic apparatus (‘delayed greening’), with young leaves having very low levels of chlorophyll and Calvin-Benson cycle enzymes. In mature leaves, soluble protein and Calvin-Benson cycle enzyme activities were low, but Glc6P levels were similar to those in A. thaliana. We propose that low ribosome abundance contributes to the high P efficiency of these Proteaceae species in three ways: (1) less P is invested in ribosomes; (2) the rate of growth and, hence, demand for P is low; and (3) the especially low plastidic ribosome abundance in young leaves delays formation of the photosynthetic machinery, spreading investment of P in rRNA. Although Calvin-Benson cycle enzyme activities are low, Glc6P levels are maintained, allowing their effective use.

SUBMITTER: Sulpice R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4260170 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Low levels of ribosomal RNA partly account for the very high photosynthetic phosphorus-use efficiency of Proteaceae species.

Sulpice Ronan R Ishihara Hirofumi H Schlereth Armin A Cawthray Gregory R GR Encke Beatrice B Giavalisco Patrick P Ivakov Alexander A Arrivault Stéphanie S Jost Ricarda R Krohn Nicole N Kuo John J Laliberté Etienne E Pearse Stuart J SJ Raven John A JA Scheible Wolf-Rüdiger WR Teste François F Teste François F Veneklaas Erik J EJ Stitt Mark M Lambers Hans H

Plant, cell & environment 20140601 6

Proteaceae species in south-western Australia occur on phosphorus- (P) impoverished soils. Their leaves contain very low P levels, but have relatively high rates of photosynthesis. We measured ribosomal RNA (rRNA) abundance, soluble protein, activities of several enzymes and glucose 6-phosphate (Glc6P) levels in expanding and mature leaves of six Proteaceae species in their natural habitat. The results were compared with those for Arabidopsis thaliana. Compared with A. thaliana, immature leaves ...[more]

PMID: 24895754

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Project description:How plants develop adaptive strategies to efficiently use nutrients on infertile soils is an important topic in plant ecology. It has been suggested that, with decreasing phosphorus (P) availability, plants increase photosynthetic P-use efficiency (PPUE) (i.e., the ratio of instantaneous photosynthetic carbon assimilation rate per unit foliar P). However, the mechanism to increase PPUE remains unclear. In this study, we tested whether high PPUE is explained by an optimized allocation of P in cells among P-containing biochemical compounds (i.e., foliar P fractions). We investigated the relationships among mass-based photosynthetic carbon assimilation rate (A mass), PPUE, total foliar P concentration, and foliar P fractions in 10 tree species in two tropical montane rain forests with differing soil P availability (five species on sedimentary soils and five species on P-poorer ultrabasic serpentine soils) on Mount Kinabalu, Borneo. We chemically fractionated foliar P into the following four fractions: metabolic P, lipid P, nucleic acid P, and residual P. A mass was positively correlated with the concentrations of total foliar P and of metabolic P across 10 tree species. Mean A mass and mean concentrations of total foliar P and of each foliar P fraction were lower on the P-poorer ultrabasic serpentine soils than on the sedimentary soils. There was a negative relationship between the proportion of metabolic P per total P and the proportion of lipid P per total P. PPUE was positively correlated with the ratio of metabolic P to lipid P. High PPUE is explained by the net effect of a relatively greater investment of P into P-containing metabolites and a relatively lesser investment into phospholipids in addition to generally reduced concentrations of all P fractions. We conclude that plants optimize the allocation of P among foliar P fractions for maintaining their productivity and growth and for reducing demand for P as their adaptation to P-poor soils.

Project description:Plants from the Proteaceae family can thrive in old, impoverished soil with extremely low phosphorus (P) content, such as those typically found in South Western Australia (SWA) and South Africa. The South Western (SW) Australian Proteaceae species have developed strategies to deal with P scarcity, such as the high capacity to re-mobilize P from senescent to young leaves and the efficient use of P for carbon fixation. In Southern South America, six Proteaceae species grow in younger soils than those of SWA, with a wide variety of climatic and edaphic conditions. However, strategies in the nutrient use efficiency of Southern South (SS) American Proteaceae species growing in their natural ecosystems remain widely unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate nutrient resorption efficiency and the photosynthetic nutrients use efficiency by SS American Proteaceae species, naturally growing in different sites along a very extensive latitudinal gradient. Mature and senescent leaves of the six SS American Proteaceae species (Embothrium coccineum, Gevuina avellana, Orites myrtoidea Lomatia hirsuta, L. ferruginea, and L. dentata), as well as, soil samples were collected in nine sites from southern Chile and were subjected to chemical analyses. Nutrient resorption (P and nitrogen) efficiency in leaves was estimated in all species inhabiting the nine sites evaluated, whereas, the photosynthetic P use efficiency (PPUE) and photosynthetic nitrogen (N) use efficiency (PNUE) per leaf unit were determined in two sites with contrasting nutrient availability. Our study exhibit for the first time a data set related to nutrient use efficiency in the leaves of the six SS American Proteaceae, revealing that for all species and sites, P and N resorption efficiencies were on average 47.7 and 50.6%, respectively. No correlation was found between leaf nutrient (P and N) resorption efficiency and soil attributes. Further, different responses in PPUE and PNUE were found among species and, contrary to our expectations, a higher nutrient use efficiency in the nutrient poorest soil was not found. We conclude that SS American Proteaceae species did not show a general pattern in the nutrient use efficiency among them neither with others Proteaceae species reported in the literature.

Dataset Information

Low levels of ribosomal RNA partly account for the very high photosynthetic phosphorus-use efficiency of Proteaceae species.

Publications

Low levels of ribosomal RNA partly account for the very high photosynthetic phosphorus-use efficiency of Proteaceae species.

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