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Photosynthesis-Rubisco relationships in foliage of Pinus sylvestris in response to nitrogen supply and the proposed role of Rubisco and amino acids as nitrogen stores

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Abstract

Relationships between photosynthetic capacity, and needle contents of N, Rubisco and amino acids were investigated in potted Pinus sylvestris L. trees. Three-year-old seedlings of P. sylvestris were grown for 4 years with three nutrient regimes. Concentrations of N, amino acids, amides and Rubisco were measured and expressed on a needle area basis, and the in vivo performances of Rubisco (maximum rate of carboxylation, V cmax) and of electron transport (maximum light driven electron flux, J max) were estimated via a biochemically based model of photosynthesis. Needle content of Rubisco-N was at least six times that of amino acid + amide-N and was positively related to N area. The estimated in vivo specific activity of Rubisco (V cmax/Rubisco content per unit area) was low and negatively related to N content per unit area (N area). J max/Rubisco content was negatively related to N area, whereas V cmax/J max was unrelated to N area. Hence, Rubisco content was in excess of the amount required for photosynthesis and this excess was positively related to N area. These data support the hypothesis that with increasing N area, Rubisco functions increasingly as a storage protein in addition to its catalytic functions.

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Abbreviations

A :

rate of net photosynthesis

CE:

capillary electrophoresis

C a :

ambient CO2 concentration

C i :

intercellular CO2 concentration

Chl:

chlorophyll

J max :

maximum rate of electron transport

K c and K o :

Michaelis-Menten constants for Rubisco carboxylation and oxygenation

K cat :

specific activity of Rubisco

N area :

N content per unit projected leaf area

N mass :

N concentration

O i :

intercellular oxygen concentration

PPFD:

photosynthetic photon flux density

PVPP:

polvinylpolypyrrolidone

R d :

'day' respiration (non-photorespiratory CO2 evolution)

Rubisco:

Ribulose-1, 5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase

SLA:

specific leaf area

V cmax :

maximum rate of Rubisco carboxylation

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Acknowledgements

C.W. was supported by a department of CALM/UWA scholarship and an Australian Academy of Science award for young Australian researchers visiting Europe. The Australian Research Council is warmly thanked for financial support. Trees were grown by Jean Marie Gioria at INRA Nancy. Thanks are due to Natacha Guérard who gave access to her experimental design aimed at testing the impact of nitrogen supply on the sensitivity of Scots pines to a guild of pests and diseases. This experiment was part of a project supported by the Commission of the European Communities, Agriculture and Fisheries (FAIR) specific RTD Program CT96-1854 "Effects of water and nutrient stress on pine susceptibility to various pest and disease guilds". We gratefully acknowledge anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on this manuscript.

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  1. Charles R. Warren

    Present address: Centre for Forest Biology, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 3020, STN CSC, Victoria, BC V8W 3N5, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, University of Western Australia, WA 6009, Crawley, Australia

    Charles R. Warren & Mark A. Adams

  2. UMR INRA-UHP, Ecologie et Ecophysiologie Forestières, 54280 Champenoux, France

    Erwin Dreyer

  3. Forest Science Centre, The University of Melbourne/Natural Resources and Environment, Water Street, Vic 3363, Creswick, Australia

    Mark A. Adams

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Correspondence to Charles R. Warren.

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Warren, C.R., Dreyer, E. & Adams, M.A. Photosynthesis-Rubisco relationships in foliage of Pinus sylvestris in response to nitrogen supply and the proposed role of Rubisco and amino acids as nitrogen stores. Trees 17, 359–366 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-003-0246-2

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