The magnitude of diurnal variation in carbon isotopic composition of leaf dark respired CO2 correlates with the difference between δ13C of leaf and root material
Frederik Wegener A B , Wolfram Beyschlag A and Christiane Werner AA Experimental and Systems Ecology, University of Bielefeld, Universitätsstrasse 25, D-33615 Bielefeld, Germany.
B Corresponding author. Email: frederik.wegener@uni-bielefeld.de
Functional Plant Biology 37(9) 849-858 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP09224
Submitted: 1 September 2009 Accepted: 30 April 2010 Published: 24 August 2010
Abstract
Spatial and temporal variations in δ13C of dark respired CO2 (δ13Cres) and total and water-soluble organic matter (WSOM) were analysed in four plant species. There was an increase in δ13Cres over the light period (measured 5 min after darkening) in leaves, whereas no distinct diurnal pattern was detected in roots. Furthermore, large differences in δ13Cres were found along the plant axis during day time. The amount of daily δ13Cres enrichment in leaves relative to the putative substrate (WSOM) varied largely between species (3.2–15.9‰), probably due to different carbon allocation strategies. Positional pyruvate labelling was used to detect whether variations in δ13Cres were related to changes in the relative activity of pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) and Krebs cycle (KC). The results indicate that one reason for the increase in δ13Cres in leaves during daylight is an increasing carbon flux through the PDH relative to the KC. Labelling experiments revealed no clear diurnal variations in PDH and KC activity in roots. Further, we found new evidence that the fractionation process that leads to the diurnal δ13C increase in leaf dark respiration is related to the well known 13C depletion of leaf material compared with heterotrophic tissues.
Additional keywords: post-photosynthetic fractionation, pyruvate 13C-labelling, respiratory metabolism, root and leaf dark respiration, stable isotopes, temporal dynamics.
Acknowledgements
This work was financed by the ECORES project of the German science foundation (DFG, WE 2681/5–1). We gratefully acknowledge valuable comments of Graham Farquhar and three anonymous referees. Further, we would like to thank K Rascher and S Unger for proofreading of the manuscript, as well as B Teichner and E Furlkröger for skillful technical assistance.
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