Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (3)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Mayaba, N.
Right arrow Articles by Tuba, Z.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Mayaba, N.
Right arrow Articles by Tuba, Z.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Mayaba, N.
Right arrow Articles by Tuba, Z.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Annals of Botany 88: 1093-1100, 2001
© 2001 Annals of Botany Company

ABA Increases the Desiccation Tolerance of Photosynthesis in the Afromontane Understorey Moss Atrichum androgynum

Nosisa Mayaba, Richard P. Beckett+, Zsolt Csintalan and Zoltán Tuba

School of Botany and Zoology, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, Private Bag X01, Scottsville, 3209, South Africa Department of Botany and Plant Physiology, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Sr. Istvan University, H-2103, Gödöllõ, Páter K. u. 1, Hungary

Received: 5 February 2001 ; Returned for revision: 30 April 2001 . Accepted: 5 September 2001

The effect of pretreatment with abscisic acid (ABA) on the physiology of the moss Atrichum androgynum during a desiccation–rehydration cycle was examined. During rehydration following desiccation for 16 h, net CO2fixation recovered much more slowly than photosystem II (PSII) activity, conditions conducive to the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the photosynthetic apparatus. Pretreatment with ABA increased the rate of recovery of photosynthesis and PSII activity, and also doubled non-photochemical quenching (NPQ). Increased NPQ activity will reduce ROS formation, and may explain in part how ABA hardens the moss to desiccation. In ABA-pretreated, but not untreated mosses, desiccation significantly increased the concentration of soluble sugars. Sugar accumulation may promote vitrification of the cytoplasm and protect membranes during desiccation. Starch concentrations in freshly collected A. androgynum were only approx. 40 mg g-1dry mass; they rose slightly during desiccation but were only slightly affected by ABA pretreatment. ABA did not reduce chlorophyll breakdown during desiccation. Copyright 2001 Annals of Botany Company

Moss, desiccation, abscisic acid, photosynthesis, chlorophyll fluorescence


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.