Search

Due to climate change, sessile oak (Quercus petraea) seedlings experience an increasing risk of drought during regeneration of forest stands by management practices. The present study was aimed at elucidating the potential of sessile oak seedlings originating from sites with different aridity and nitrogen (N) supply to acclimate to contrasting water availability. For this purpose, a free-air cross-exchange experiment was conducted between a dry and a humid forest stand with high and low soil N contents, respectively, during two consecutive years differing in aridity before harvest. Almost all structural and physiological foliar traits analyzed did not differ consistently between seed origins during both years, when cultivated at the same site. As an exception, the arid provenance upregulated foliar ascorbate contents under drought, whereas the humid provenance accumulated the phenolic antioxidants vescalagin and castalagin (VC) under favorable weather conditions and consumed VC upon drought. Apparently, differences in long-term aridity at the forest sites resulted in only few genetically fixed differences in foliar traits between the provenances. However, structural and physiological traits strongly responded to soil N contents and weather conditions before harvest. Foliar N contents and their partitioning were mostly determined by the differences in soil N availability at the sites, but still were modulated by weather conditions before harvest. In the first year, differences in aridity before harvest resulted in differences between most foliar traits. In the second year, when weather conditions at both sites were considerably similar and more arid compared to the first year, differences in foliar traits were almost negligible. This pattern was observed irrespective of seed origin. These results support the view that leaves of sessile oak seedlings generally possess a high plasticity to cope with extreme differences in aridity by immediate acclimation responses that are even better developed in plants of arid origin.

European mistletoe (Viscum album L.) has largely infested Central European forests and causes high mortality probability particularly in dry years. However, little information is available about the consequences of mistletoe infestation for metabolic processes in bark and wood of its host, despite their important roles in infestation defense. We analyzed the tissue hydration, carbohydrate composition, phytohormone profile, reactive oxygen species and anti-oxidant levels in bark and wood of Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris L.), as dependent on mistletoe infestation. As a consequence of mistletoe infestation, host bark and wood showed impaired hydration and reduced total carbon content. In the bark, soluble sugar and lignin contents increased, apparently at the expense of holo-cellulose. Hydrogen peroxide accumulation was accompanied by increased glutathione and decreased reduced ascorbic acid levels. Mistletoe infestation mediated alteration of the phytohormone profile in bark and wood of its host. Cytokinins, jasmonic acid and abscisic acid levels increased in both tissues, whereas salicylic acid and indole-3-acetic acid, which were only detected in the bark, declined. The present results show that mistletoe infestation affects both the host's anti-oxidative defense system and the phytohormone profile after establishment of the xylem tapping haustorium. The significance of these processes for the development of the woody mistletoe stem and the haustorium is discussed.

Glutathione is involved in thiol redox signaling and acts as a major redox buffer against reactive oxygen species, helping to maintain a reducing environment in vivo. Glutathione reductase (GR) catalyzes the reduction of glutathione disulfide (GSSG) into reduced glutathione (GSH). The Arabidopsis thaliana genome encodes two GRs: GR1 and GR2. Whereas the cytosolic/peroxisomal GR1 is not crucial for plant development, we show here that the plastid-localized GR2 is essential for root growth and root apical meristem (RAM) maintenance. We identify a GR2 mutant, miao, that displays strong inhibition of root growth and severe defects in the RAM, with GR activity being reduced to ∼50%. miao accumulates high levels of GSSG and exhibits increased glutathione oxidation. The exogenous application of GSH or the thiol-reducing agent DTT can rescue the root phenotype of miao, demonstrating that the RAM defects in miao are triggered by glutathione oxidation. Our in silico analysis of public microarray data shows that auxin and glutathione redox signaling generally act independently at the transcriptional level. We propose that glutathione redox status is essential for RAM maintenance through both auxin/PLETHORA (PLT)-dependent and auxin/PLT-independent redox signaling pathways.

The poplar hybrid Populus x canescens (syn. Populus tremula x Populus alba) was subjected to salt stress by applying 75 mM NaCl for 2 weeks in hydroponic cultures. Decreasing maximum quantum yield (Fv/Fm) indicated damage of photosystem II (PS II), which was more pronounced under nitrate compared with ammonium nutrition. In vivo staining with diaminobenzidine showed no accumulation of H(2)O(2) in the leaf lamina; moreover, staining intensity even decreased. But at the leaf margins, development of necrotic tissue was associated with a strong accumulation of H(2)O(2). Glutathione (GSH) contents increased in response to NaCl stress in leaves but not in roots, the primary site of salt exposure. The increasing leaf GSH concentrations correlated with stress-induced decreases in transpiration and net CO(2) assimilation rates at light saturation. Enhanced rates of photorespiration could also be involved in preventing reactive oxygen species formation in chloroplasts and, thus, in protecting PS II from damage. Accumulation of Gly and Ser in leaves indeed indicates increasing rates of photorespiration. Since Ser and Gly are both immediate precursors of GSH that can limit GSH synthesis, it is concluded that the salt-induced accumulation of leaf GSH results from enhanced photorespiration and is thus probably restricted to the cytosol.

In a field study, the composition and concentrations of amino compounds in the xylem sap of the mistletoe, Viscum album L., and in the xylem sap of two host species, an evergreen conifer (Abies alba Mill.) and a deciduous broad-leaved tree (Populus x euramericana), were analyzed. The xylem sap of both hosts and mistletoe contained large, but similar amounts of total organic nitrogen in low molecular weight amino compounds (TONLW). Nevertheless, individual amino compounds accumulated in the xylem sap of mistletoe relative to the host xylem sap, indicating selective uptake. In the xylem sap of Populus, major amino compounds (asparagine (Asn) and glutamine (Gln)) and the bulk parameters, TONLW and proteinogenic amino acids, showed significant seasonal variation. In Abies and in mistletoe on either host, variation of amino compounds in xylem sap was largely explained by inter-annual differences, not by seasonal variation. In both hosts, TONLW in the xylem sap was dominated by Gln. There was a steady decrease in relative abundance of Gln from the host xylem sap to the mistletoe xylem sap and to the stems and leaves of mistletoe. Simultaneously, the abundance of arginine (Arg) increased. Arginine was the predominant amino compound in the stems and leaves of mistletoe, occurring at concentrations previously observed only in leaves of trees exposed to excess nitrogen. We conclude that Gln (2 mol N mol(-1)) delivered by the host xylem sap is converted, in mistletoe, to Arg (4 mol N mol(-1)) and that the organic carbon liberated from Gln contributes significantly to the parasite's heterotrophic carbon gain. Statistical analyses of the data support this conclusion. Accumulation of Arg in mistletoe is an indication of excess N supply as a result of the uptake of amino compounds from the host xylem sap and a lack of phloem uploading.

Drought is a major environmental stress affecting growth and vitality of forest ecosystems. In the present study, foliar nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) metabolism of two Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) provenances with assumed different drought tolerance were investigated. We worked with 1-year-old seedlings of the interior provenance Fehr Lake (FEHR) originating from a dry environment and the coastal provenance Snoqualmie (SNO) from a more humid origin. Total C and N, structural N and the concentrations of soluble protein, total amino acids (TAAs) and individual amino acids as well as the relative abundance of polar, low-molecular-weight metabolites including antioxidants were determined in current-year needles exposed either to 42 days of drought or to 42 days drought plus 14 days of rewatering. The seedlings reacted in a provenance-specific manner to drought stress. Coastal provenance SNO showed considerably increased contents of TAAs, which were caused by increased abundance of the quantitatively most important amino acids arginine, ornithine and lysine. Additionally, the polyamine putrescine accumulated exclusively in drought-stressed trees of this provenance. In contrast, the interior provenance FEHR showed the opposite response, i.e., drastically reduced concentrations of these amino acids. However, FEHR showed considerably increased contents of pyruvate-derived and aromatic amino acids, and also higher drought-induced levels of the antioxidants ascorbate and α-tocopherol. In response to drought, both provenances produced large amounts of carbohydrates, such as glucose and fructose, most likely as osmolytes that can readily be metabolized for protection against osmotic stress. We conclude that FEHR and SNO cope with drought stress in a provenance-specific manner: the coastal provenance SNO was mainly synthesizing N-based osmolytes, a reaction not observed in the interior provenance FEHR; instead, the latter increased the levels of scavengers of reactive oxygen species. Our results underline the importance of provenance-specific reactions to abiotic stress.