Antioxidant capacity along the leaf blade of the C3-CAM facultative bromeliad Guzmania monostachia under water deficit conditions.

Guzmania monostachia (L.) Rusby ex Mez is an epiphytic, rosette-shaped bromeliad that displays variable degrees of crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) along the leaf under water deficit. The aim of our study was to evaluate whether the production-scavenging system of reactive oxygen species (ROS) along the leaf length of G. monostachia plants is related to the foliar gradient of CAM when irrigation is withheld. Among the leaf portions, the apex was exposed to the highest photosynthetic flux density and presented the highest relative water content, CAM activity, hydrogen peroxide and lipid peroxidation after treatment. Hence, the most intense CAM at the leaf apex may not have prevented higher oxidative burden in that region during water deficiency. However, the photosynthetic efficiency in the apex seemed unaffected by irrigation withholding or light intensity. The leaf apex also had the highest carotenoid content and increased superoxide dismutase and ascorbate peroxidase activities under treatment. Hence, G. monostachia was able to maintain ROS under tolerable levels by increasing antioxidant capacity. Our results suggest the metabolic differences within the same leaf under water deficit may derive from the gradient of light incidence, which emphasises the physiological plasticity this bromeliad applies to adapt to the adverse conditions of the canopy.

Adjustments in CAM and enzymatic scavenging of H2O2 in juvenile plants of the epiphytic bromeliad Guzmania monostachia as affected by drought and rewatering.

Juvenile plants of epiphytes such as bromeliads are highly prone to dehydration under drought conditions. It is likely that young epiphytes evolved mostly metabolic strategies to resist drought, which may include the plastic modulation of the enzymatic antioxidant system and crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM). Few studies have investigated such strategies in juvenile epiphytes, although such research is important to understand how these plants might face drought intensification derived from potential climatic alterations. The epiphytic CAM bromeliad Guzmania monostachia (L.) Rusby ex Mez var. monostachia is known to have plastic responses to drought, but no reports have focused on the metabolism of juvenile plants to drought and recovery. Hence, we aimed to verify how juvenile G. monostachia plants adjust malate (indicative of CAM), H2O2 content and enzymatic scavenging in response to drought (eight days without irrigation) and rewatering (six days of irrigation post-drought). Interestingly, drought decreased H2O2 content and activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) in the pre-dusk period, although glutathione reductase (GR) and CAM activity increased. Rewatering restored H2O2, but activities of APX, CAT and GR exceeded pre-stress levels in the pre-dusk and/or pre-dawn periods. Results suggest that recovery from a first drought redefines the homeostatic balance of H2O2 scavenging, in which rewatered plants stimulate the enzymatic antioxidant system while drought-exposed plants intensify CAM activity to regulate H2O2 content, a photosynthetic pathway known to prevent oxidative stress. Such data show that young G. monostachia plants adjust CAM and H2O2 scavenging to adapt to water availability.