LIGHT AND DARK CO2 FIXATION IN CLUSIA-UVITANA AND THE EFFECTS OF PLANT WATER STATUS AND CO2 AVAILABILITY

In well-watered plants of Clusia uvitana, a species capable of carbon fixation by crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM), recently expanded leaves gained 5 to 13-fold more carbon during 12 h light than during 12 h dark periods. When water was withheld from the plants, daytime net CO2 uptake strongly decreased over a period of several days, whereas there was a marked increase in nocturnal carbon gain. Photosynthetic rates in the chloroplasts were hardly affected by the water stress treatment, as demonstrated by measurements of chlorophyll a fluorescence of intact leaves, indicating efficient decarboxylation of organic acids and refixation of carbon in the light. Within a few days after rewatering, plants reverted to the original gas exchange pattern with net CO2 uptake predominantly occurring during daytime. The reversible increase in dark CO2 fixation was paralleled by a reversible increase in the content of phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) carboxylase protein. In well-watered plants, short-term changes in the degree of dark CO2 fixation were induced by alterations in CO2 partial pressure during light periods: a decrease from 350 to 170-mu-bar CO2 caused nocturnal carbon gain, measured in normal air (350-mu-bar), to increase, whereas an increase to 700-mu-bar CO2, during the day, caused net dark CO2 fixation to cease. The increased CAM activity in response to water shortage may, at least to some extent, be directly related to the reduced carbon gain during daytime.