Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol. 54, No. 381, pp. 405-418,
January 2, 2003
© 2003 Oxford University Press
Reversibility of cold- and light-stress tolerance and accompanying changes of metabolite and antioxidant levels in the two high mountain plant species Soldanella alpina and Ranunculus glacialis
Received 1 July 2002; Accepted 15 September 2002
Station Alpine du Lautaret et Laboratoire de Physiologie Cellulaire Végétale, Unité Mixte de Recherche 5019 (Commissariat à lEnergie Atomique, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Joseph Fourier), Département de Biologie Moléculaire et Structurale, CEA-Grenoble, 17 rue des Martyrs, 38054 Grenoble cedex 9, France
1 Present address and to whom correspondence should be sent: Laboratoire dEcophysiologie Végétale, Bâtiment 362, UFR Scientifique dOrsay Université Paris XI, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France. Fax: +33 (0)1 69 15 72 38. E-mail: peter.streb{at}eco.u-psud.fr
Abbreviations: qN, non-photochemical quenching of chlorophyll fluorescence; VAZ, violaxanthin+antheraxanthin+zeaxanthin.
Two high mountain plants Soldanella alpina (L.) and Ranunculus glacialis (L.) were transferred from their natural environment to two different growth conditions (22 °C and 6 °C) at low elevation in order to investigate the possibility of de-acclimation to light and cold and the importance of antioxidants and metabolite levels. The results were compared with the lowland crop plant Pisum sativum (L.) as a control. Leaves of R. glacialis grown for 3 weeks at 22 °C were more sensitive to light-stress (defined as damage to photosynthesis, reduction of catalase activity (EC 1.11.1.6) and bleaching of chlorophyll) than leaves collected in high mountains or grown at 6 °C. Light-stress tolerance of S. alpina leaves was not markedly changed. Therefore, acclimation is reversible in R. glacialis leaves, but constitutive or long-lasting in S. alpina leaves. The different growth conditions induced significant changes in non-photochemical fluorescence quenching (qN) and the contents of antioxidants and xanthophyll cycle pigments. These changes did not correlate with light-stress tolerance, questioning their role for light- and cold-acclimation of both alpine species. However, ascorbate contents remained very high in leaves of S. alpina under all growth conditions (1219% of total soluble carbon). In cold-acclimated leaves of R. glacialis, malate represented one of the most abundant compounds of total soluble carbon (22%). Malate contents declined significantly in de-acclimated leaves, suggesting a possible involvement of malate, or malate metabolism, in light-stress tolerance. Leaves of the lowland plant P. sativum were more sensitive to light-stress than the alpine species, and contained only low amounts of malate and ascorbate.
Key words: Antioxidants, cold-acclimation, malate, NMR-spectroscopy, photoinhibition, xanthophyll cycle.
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