Integrated responses of rosette organogenesis, morphogenesis and architecture to reduced incident light in Arabidopsis thaliana results in higher efficiency of light interception
Karine Chenu A , Nicolas Franck A , Jean Dauzat B , Jean-François Barczi B , Hervé Rey B and Jérémie Lecoeur A CA Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) — Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Agronomie (ENSA), Laboratoire d’Ecophysiologie des Plantes sous Stress Environnementaux (LEPSE) UMR 759, 2 Place Viala, 34060 Montpellier, France.
B Centre de Coopération International en Recherche Agronomique pour le développement (CIRAD), UMR Botanique et Bioinformatique de l’Architecture des Plantes (AMAP), Bvd de la Lironde, 34398 Montpellier, France.
C Corresponding author. Email: lecoeur@ensam.inra.fr
Functional Plant Biology 32(12) 1123-1134 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP05091
Submitted: 15 April 2005 Accepted: 16 August 2005 Published: 1 December 2005
Abstract
Plants have a high phenotypic plasticity in response to light. We investigated changes in plant architecture in response to decreased incident light levels in Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh, focusing on organogenesis and morphogenesis, and on consequences for the efficiency of light interception of the rosette. A. thaliana ecotype Columbia plants were grown under various levels of incident photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), with blue light (BL) intensity proportional to incident PAR intensity and with a high and stable red to far-red light ratio. We estimated the PAR absorbed by the plant, using data from precise characterisation of the light environment and 3-dimensional simulations of virtual plants generated with AMAPsim software. Decreases in incident PAR modified rosette architecture; leaf area decreased, leaf blades tended to be more circular and petioles were longer and thinner. However, the efficiency of light interception by the rosette was slightly higher in plants subjected to lower PAR intensities, despite the reduction in leaf area. Decreased incident PAR delayed leaf initiation and slowed down relative leaf expansion rate, but increased the duration of leaf expansion. The leaf initiation rate and the relative expansion rate during the first third of leaf development were related to the amount of PAR absorbed. The duration of leaf expansion was related to PAR intensity. The relationships identified could be used to analyse the phenotypic plasticity of various genotypes of Arabidopsis. Overall, decreases in incident PAR result in an increase in the efficiency of light interception.
Keywords: absorbed radiation, Arabidopsis thaliana, blue light, leaf development, leaf expansion, light intensity, phenotypic plasticity, rosette architecture.
Acknowledgments
We thank A. Christophe for advice concerning light quality and S. Lagier for technical assistance. This research was partly supported by a grant from the European Research Training Network (HPRN-CT-2002–00267).
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