Influence of benomyl on photosynthetic capacity in soybean leaves

Abstract

This investigation was performed to study the influence of benomyl on photosyn- thetic pigments and enzymes in soybean leaves. Chlorophyll and pheophytin levels were re- duced by benomyl 45 days after greening. These results indicate that chlorophyll a and b, and pheophytin must be controlled by benomyl. SDS-PAGE analysis showed that 50 and 14.5 kD polypeptides represented as the large and small subunits of rubisco. In the both of these sub- units, the band intensity of the control was significantly higher than that after benomyl treatment, indicating that these two subunits are affected by benomyl. Benomyl strongly in- hibited both the activity and content of rubisco as its concentration was gradually increased. However, it remains unclear whether this reduction of rubisco level was due to a reduced level of rubisco activase. Two major polypeptides of 46 and 42 kD were identified as rubisco activase subunits by SDS-PAGE. The intensity of these two bands was shown to be higher in the control than after benomyl treatment. These results indicate that the rubisco decrease resulting from increased benomyl concentrations was caused by rubisco activase. A significant decrease in both the activity and content of rubisco activase by benomyl was also observed. These results suggest that the decrease in rubisco level caused by benomyl is accompanied by a decrease in both the activity and content of rubisco activase.