Day/night variations in turgor pressure in individual cells of Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L.

Abstract

Using a pressure probe, turgor pressure was directly determined in leaf-mesophyll cells and the giant epidermal bladder cells of stems, petioles and leaves of the halophilic plant Mesembryanthemum crystallinum. Experimental plants were grown under non-saline conditions. They displayed the photosynthetic characteristics typical of C3-plants when 10 weeks old and performed weak CAM when 16 weeks old. In 10 week old plants, the turgor pressure (P) of bladder cells of stems was 0.30 MPa; of bladder cells of petioles 0.19 MPa, and of bladder cells of leaves 0.04 MPa. In bladder cells from leaves of 16 week old plants, marked changes in turgor pressure were observed during day/night cycles. Maximum turgor occurred at noon and was paralleled by a decrease in the osmotic pressure of the bladder cell sap. Similar changes in the cell water relations were observed in plants in which traspirational water loss was prevented by high ambient relative humidity. Turgor pressure of mesophyll cells also increased during day-time showing macimum values in the early morning. No such changes in turgor pressure and osmotic pressure were observed in bladder and mesophyll cells of the 10 week old plants not showing the diurnal acid fluctuation typical of CAM.