Hormonal and nitric oxide signalling in the induction of the Crassulacean acid metabolismo in Ananas comosus

Author(s)

Luciano Freschi

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Biociências (IBIOC/SB)
• Defense date: 2008-10-17

Examining board members

Helenice Mercier; Osvaldo Ferrarese Filho; Gilberto Barbante Kerbauy; José Ronaldo Magalhães; Marie Anne van Sluys

• Advisor: Helenice Mercier

Abstract

The Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) expression in C3-CAM facultative plants can be strongly modulated by a diversity of environmental and endogenous signals. Since pineapple (Ananas comosus, variety Smooth Cayenne) plants can perform either C3 or CAM photosynthesis when grown in vitro, this work attempted to investigate the involvement of four hormonal classes (abscisic acid, cytokinins, auxins and ethylene), cytosolic calcium (Ca2+cit.) and nitric oxide (NO) on the regulation of CAM expression in this bromeliad. To achieve this, the levels of these signaling compounds were measured during the pineapple C3-to-CAM induction and the CAM-to-C3 reversion. Furthermore, the degree of CAM expression in plants treated with these compounds and their inhibitors of synthesis, transport or perception was also analyzed. The data obtained showed that the endogenous levels of ABA were positively correlated with the degree of CAM expression in pineapple, since the C3-to-CAM transition and the CAM-to-C3 reversion in this bromeliad were preceded by, respectively, increases and decreases in the ABA leaf content. Consistent with these results; exogenously applied ABA increased the CAM expression in plants maintained in the absence of water stress, thus, indicating a stimulatory effect of this hormone on the A. comosus CAM expression. However, the inhibition of ABA accumulation did not affect the CAM induction by water stress, suggesting that the pineapple C3-to-CAM transition can occur via both ABA-dependent and ABA-independent signaling pathways. On the opposite, the data indicated that cytokinins act as negative regulators of CAM expression in pineapple, since the adding of this hormone partially inhibited the CAM induction by water stress and, additionally, the endogenous levels of the four cytokinins analyzed were inversely proportional to the degree of CAM expression in this bromeliad. Auxins and ethylene, conversely, seem not to be involved in the regulation of the C3-to-CAM transition and the CAM-to-C3 reversion in pineapple. On the other hand, the data obtained indicated, by the first time, a positive signaling role for the NO on the expression of CAM photosynthesis. For instance, it was observed that the exogenously applied NO increased the CAM expression in pineapple plants and, in agreement; there was an elevation in the production of this free radical during the water stress-induced C3-to-CAM transition. Additionally, the elevation of the NO synthesis in the pineapple leaf tissues occurred mainly in the chlorenchyma, which is the plant tissue responsible for most of the metabolic changes necessary to the CAM photosynthesis establishment. The results also suggested that the NO may act as a second messenger of the ABA signal in the pineapple CAM induction, since the production of this free radical in ABA-treated plants increased considerably and, in parallel, treatments with a NO scavenger partially blocked the ABA-induced C3-to-CAM transition. Finally, treatments with calcium chelator or ionophore indicated that the increase in the cytosolic concentration of this ion plays a crucial role in the regulation of the CAM induction by water stress in A. comosus.According to the results, changes in the concentration of Ca2+ cytosolic seem to represent a convergence point between the ABA-dependent and ABA-independent signaling cascade leading to CAM induction in pineapple. Taken together, the data obtained in the present work indicated that ABA, NO and cytosolic Ca2+ interact during the signaling events leading to the pineapple C3-CAM transition, while the cytokinins seem to repress the expression of CAM photosynthesis. (AU)