Elevated CO2 atmosphere promotes plant growth and inulin production in the cerrado species Vernonia herbacea
Vanessa F. Oliveira A , Lilian B. P. Zaidan A , Márcia R. Braga A , Marcos P. M. Aidar A and Maria Angela M. Carvalho A BA Seção de Fisiologia e Bioquímica de Plantas, Instituto de Botânica, C. Postal 3005, 01061-970 – São Paulo, SP, Brasil.
B Corresponding author. Email: mam.carvalho@gmail.com
Functional Plant Biology 37(3) 223-231 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP09164
Submitted: 27 June 2009 Accepted: 22 October 2009 Published: 25 February 2010
Abstract
Carbon allocation in biomass is an important response of plants to the increasing atmospheric [CO2]. The effects of elevated [CO2] are scarcely reported in fructan-accumulating plants and even less in tropical wild species storing this type of carbohydrate. In the present study, the effects of high [CO2] atmosphere was evaluated on growth, biomass allocation and fructan metabolism in Vernonia herbacea (Vell.) Rusby, an Asteraceae from the Brazilian cerrado, which accumulates inulin-type fructans in the underground organs (rhizophores). Plants were cultivated for 120 days in open-top chambers (OTCs) under ambient (~380 μmol mol–1), and elevated (~760 μmol mol–1) [CO2]. Plant growth, photosynthesis, fructan contents, and the activities of fructan metabolising enzymes were analysed in the rhizophores at Time 0 and 15, 30, 60, 90 and 120 days. Plants under elevated [CO2] presented increases in height (40%), photosynthesis (63%) and biomass of aerial (32%) and underground (47%) organs when compared with control plants. Under elevated [CO2] plants also presented higher 1-SST, 1-FFT and invertase activities and lower 1-FEH activity. Although fructan concentration remained unchanged, fructan productivity was higher in plants maintained under elevated [CO2], due to their higher rhizophore biomass. This is the first report on the effects of elevated [CO2] on a plant species bearing underground organs that accumulate fructans. Our results indicate that plants of V. herbacea can benefit from elevated atmospheric [CO2] by increasing growth and carbon allocation for the production of inulin, and may contribute to predict a future scenario for the impact of this atmospheric condition on the herbaceous vegetation of the cerrado.
Additional keywords: carbon partition, fructan active enzymes, non-structural carbohydrates, reserve organs.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by FAPESP (98/05124–8 and 05/04139–7) and CNPq (474674/2004–5). V.F. Oliveira thanks FAPESP for awarded fellowship (07/59782–7). MAM Carvalho, LBP Zaidan and MR Braga are CNPq research fellows. The authors thank Dr Norio Shiomi (Rakuno Gakuen University, Japan) for kindly providing pure samples of nystose and 1-kestose.
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