Photosynthesis in the basal growing zone of barley leaves

Abstract

Cell proliferation, elongation, determination and differentiation mainly take place in the basal 5 mm of a barley leaf, the so-called basiplast. A considerable portion of cDNAs randomly selected from a basiplast cDNA library represented photosynthetic genes such as CP29, RUBISCO-SSU and type I-LHCP II. Therefore, we became interested in the role of the basiplast in establishing photosynthesis. (1) Northern blot analysis revealed expression of photosynthetic genes in the basiplast, although at a low level. Analysis of basiplasts at different developmental stages of the leaves revealed maximal expression of photosynthetic genes during early leaf development. The activity of these genes shows that plastid differentiation involves the development of the photosynthetic apparatus even at this early state of leaf cell expansion. (2) This conclusion was supported by the fact that chlorophylls and carotenoids are synthesized in the basiplast. The qualitative pattern of pigment composition was largely similar to that of fully differentiated green leaves. (3) The transition from proplastids to chloroplasts progressed in the basal 5 mm of the leaf, so that the number of grana lamellae per thylakoid stack increased with distance from the meristem from zero to about five. (4) Photosynthetic function was studied by chlorophyll a-fluorescence measurements. In dark-adapted 8-day-old primary leaves, the fluorescence ratio (FP-Fo)/FP was little decreased in basiplasts as compared to leaf blades. During steady state photosynthesis, the ratio (FM'-Fo)/FM' was high in leaf blade (0.5), but low in the sheath (0.25) and in the basiplast (0.18), indicating the existence of functional, albeit low light-adapted chloroplasts in the basiplast. (5) Further on, chlorophyll a fluorescence analysis in relation to seedling age revealed efficient photosynthetic performance in the basiplast of 3- to 6-day-old seedlings which later-on differentiates into leaf blade as compared to the basiplast of 7- to 12-day-old seedlings which develops into leaf sheath and finally ceases to grow. The leaf age dependent changes in basiplast photosynthesis were reflected by changes in pigment contents and LHCP II expression both of which also revealed a maximum in the basiplast of 4-day-old seedlings.