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JXB Advance Access published online on June 27, 2005
Journal of Experimental Botany, doi:10.1093/jxb/eri215
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© The Author [2005]. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology]. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org
Received January 25, 2005
Accepted April 20, 2005

RESEARCH PAPER

Physiological characterization of Mg deficiency in Arabidopsis thaliana

Christian Hermans 1* and Nathalie Verbruggen 2

1 Laboratoire de Physiologie et de Génétique Moléculaire des Plantes, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bd du Triomphe CP 242, 1050 Brussels, Belgium; Bioenergetics Laboratory, University of Geneva, Ch des Embrouchis, Geneva 1254, Switzerland; Present address: Biology Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
2 Laboratoire de Physiologie et de Génétique Moléculaire des Plantes, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bd du Triomphe CP 242, 1050 Brussels, Belgium

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Christian Hermans, E-mail: chermans{at}ulb.ac.be


  Abstract

Although the symptoms of magnesium deficiency are well documented in plants, the primary physiological effects of low Mg availability remain largely unknown. This paper describes the physiological responses of Mg starvation in Arabidopsis thaliana. Growth characteristics, Mg and sugar concentration, and photochemical performance were measured at regular intervals during the induction of Mg deficiency. These data show that Mg deficiency increased the sugar concentration and altered sucrose export from young source leaves before any noticeable effect on photosynthetic activity was seen. The decline in photosynthetic activity might be elicited by increased leaf sugar concentrations. Transcript levels of Cab2 (encoding a chlorophyll a/b protein) were lower in Mg-deficient plants before any obvious decrease in the chlorophyll concentration. These transcriptional data suggest that the reduction of chlorophyll is a response to sugar levels, rather than a lack of Mg atoms for chelating chlorophyll.

Keywords: Arabidopsis; Cab2; chloropyll a fast fluorescence transient; magnesium deficiency; photosynthesis; sugars.
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