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Stimulation effect of gibberellic acid short-term treatment on leaf photosynthesis related to the increase in Rubisco content in broad bean and soybean

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Abstract

Short-term (one hour) application (painting on surfaces of leaves) of 9 μM GA3 increased net photosynthetic rate (Pn) in broad bean leaves at 31 Pa CO2 and saturating light by more than 20% compared with that of control. The increased Pn was accompanied by an increase in stomatal conductance and a decrease in intercellular CO2 partial pressure. Moreover, the GA3treatment increased the rate of photosynthetic oxygen evolution in isolated broad bean protoplasts to an extent similar to that of leaves. It had little effect on apparent photosynthetic quantum yield and photosynthetic electron transport rate, but could significantly increase carboxylation efficiency in leaves. In consonance with the increase in the carboxylation efficiency, RuBPCase activity and relative content of Rubisco large subunits were also increased by GA3 treatment. Chloramphenicol, an inhibitor of chloroplast protein synthesis, could eliminate the enhancing effect of GA3 on photosynthetic oxygen evolution and relative content of Rubisco large subunits in broad bean protoplasts. Nevertheless, actinomycin D and rifampicin, DNA transcription inhibitors, could not eliminate the enhancement effect of GA3. Similar results were obtained with soybean leaves treated by 90 μM GA3. These results suggest that the increase in leaf net photosynthetic rate caused by GA3 short-term treatment is mainly due to the increases in content and activity of RuBPCase, and that GA3 stimulates the synthesis of Rubisco subunits at translation rather than transcription level.

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  1. Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, 300 Fenglin Road, Shanghai, 200032, The People's Republic of China

    Lin Yuan & Da-Quan Xu

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  1. Lin Yuan
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  2. Da-Quan Xu
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Correspondence to Da-Quan Xu.

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Yuan, L., Xu, DQ. Stimulation effect of gibberellic acid short-term treatment on leaf photosynthesis related to the increase in Rubisco content in broad bean and soybean. Photosynthesis Research 68, 39–47 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011894912421

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