Acclimation to short-term low temperatures in two Eucalyptus globulus clones with contrasting drought resistance.

We tested the hypothesis that Eucalyptus globulus Labill. genotypes that are more resistant to dry environments might also exhibit higher cold tolerances than drought-sensitive plants. The effect of low temperatures was evaluated in acclimated and unacclimated ramets of a drought-resistant clone (CN5) and a drought-sensitive clone (ST51) of E. globulus. We studied the plants' response via leaf gas exchanges, leaf water and osmotic potentials, concentrations of soluble sugars, several antioxidant enzymes and leaf electrolyte leakage. Progressively lowering air temperatures (from 24/16 to 10/-2 degrees C, day/night) led to acclimation of both clones. Acclimated ramets exhibited higher photosynthetic rates, stomatal conductances and lower membrane relative injuries when compared to unacclimated ramets. Moreover, low temperatures led to significant increases of soluble sugars and antioxidant enzymes activity (glutathione reductase, ascorbate peroxidase and superoxide dismutases) of both clones in comparison to plants grown at control temperature (24/16 degrees C). On the other hand, none of the clones, either acclimated or not, exhibited signs of photoinhibition under low temperatures and moderate light. The main differences in the responses to low temperatures between the two clones resulted mainly from differences in carbon metabolism, including a higher accumulation of soluble sugars in the drought-resistant clone CN5 as well as a higher capacity for osmotic regulation, as compared to the drought-sensitive clone ST51. Although membrane injury data suggested that both clones had the same inherent freezing tolerance before and after cold acclimation, the results also support the hypothesis that the drought-resistant clone had a greater cold tolerance at intermediate levels of acclimation than the drought-sensitive clone. A higher capacity to acclimate in a short period can allow a clone to maintain an undamaged leaf surface area along sudden frost events, increasing growth capacity. Moreover, it can enhance survival chances in frost-prone sites expanding the plantation range with more adaptive clones.

Mesophyll conductance to CO2 in Arabidopsis thaliana.

The close rosette growth form, short petioles and small leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana make measurements with commercial gas exchange cuvettes difficult. This difficulty can be overcome by growing A. thaliana plants in 'ice-cream cone-like' soil pots. This design permitted simultaneous gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence measurements from which the first estimates of mesophyll conductance to CO(2) (g(m)) in Arabidopsis were obtained and used to determine photosynthetic limitations during plant ageing from c. 30-45 d. Estimations of g(m) showed maximum values of 0.2 mol CO(2) m(-2) s(-1) bar(-1), lower than expected for a thin-leaved annual species. The parameterization of the response of net photosynthesis (A(N)) to chloroplast CO(2) concentrations (C(c)) yielded estimations of the maximum velocity of carboxylation (V(c,max_Cc)) which were also lower than those reported for other annual species. As A. thaliana plants aged from 30 to 45 d, there was a 40% decline of A(N) that was entirely the result of increased diffusional limitations to CO(2) transfer, with g(m) being the largest. The results suggest that in A. thaliana A(N) is limited by low g(m) and low capacity for carboxylation. Decreased g(m) is the main factor involved in early age-induced photosynthetic decline.