Constitutive and facultative crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) in Cuban oregano, Coleus amboinicus (Lamiaceae)
Klaus Winter
A C , Aurelio Virgo A , Milton Garcia A , Jorge Aranda A and Joseph A. M. Holtum A B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, PO Box 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancón, Republic of Panama.
B College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia.
C Corresponding author. Email: winterk@si.edu
Functional Plant Biology 48(7) 647-654 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP20127
Submitted: 1 May 2020 Accepted: 23 July 2020 Published: 14 September 2020
Journal Compilation © CSIRO 2021 Open Access CC BY-NC-ND
Abstract
Plants exhibiting the water-conserving crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) photosynthetic pathway provide some of the most intriguing examples of photosynthetic diversity and plasticity. Here, a largely unnoticed facet of CAM-plant photosynthesis is highlighted: the co-occurrence of ontogenetically controlled constitutive and environmentally controlled facultative CAM in a species. Both forms of CAM are displayed in leaves of Coleus amboinicus Lour. (Lamiaceae), a semi-succulent perennial plant with oregano-like flavour that is native to southern and eastern Africa and naturalised elsewhere in the tropics. Under well-watered conditions, leaves assimilate CO2 predominantly by the C3 pathway. They also display low levels of CO2 uptake at night accompanied by small nocturnal increases in leaf tissue acidity. This indicates the presence of weakly expressed constitutive CAM. CAM expression is strongly enhanced in response to drought stress. The drought-enhanced component of CAM is reversible upon rewatering and thus considered to be facultative. In contrast to C. amboinicus, the thin-leaved closely related Coleus scutellarioides (L.) Benth. exhibits net CO2 fixation solely in the light via the C3 pathway, both under well-watered and drought conditions. However, low levels of nocturnal acidification detected in leaves and stems indicate that the CAM cycle is present. The highly speciose mint family, which contains few known CAM-exhibiting species and is composed predominantly of C3 species, appears to be an excellent group of plants for studying the evolutionary origins of CAM and for determining the position of facultative CAM along the C3–full CAM trajectory.
Additional keywords: CO2 fixation, CAM evolution, drought stress, leaf acidity, photosynthesis.
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