Elevated CO2 stimulates cells to divide in grass meristems: a differential effect in two natural populations of Dactylis glomerata

In this study, we tested the hypothesis that elevated [CO2] shortens the cell cycle in meristems of Dactylis glomerata, more in a Portuguese population (38 degrees 53'N) than in a Swedish population (63 degrees 09'N). In the shoot meristem, the cell cycle shortened to about the same extent (approximate to 26%) in both populations exposed to the elevated [CO2] treatment, In the root meristem, the cell cycle shortened by 17% in the Portuguese and by 8% in the Swedish population, However, the proportion of rapidly cycling cells increased in the Portuguese much more than in the Swedish population in both meristems, In the root meristem, there was a 1.86-fold increase in the Portuguese compared with a 1.31-fold increase in the Swedish, In the shoot meristem, the increases were 1.5-3-fold for the Portuguese and 1.2-fold for the Swedish, The data are consistent in showing that a major response to the elevated [CO2] treatment was an increase in the proportion of cells that were cycling and that this was more marked for the Portuguese population, A more general response to the elevated [CO2] treatment was a shortening of the cell cycle regardless of population.