Primary partitioning and storage of photosynthate in sucrose and starch in leaves of C4 plants

Abstract

A procedure involving pulse labelling of leaves with 14CO2 was developed to measure the primary (initial) partitioning of photosynthate between sucrose and starch. Partitioning of photosynthate into sucrose and starch was determined in leaves of C4 plants and compared with the patterns of storage of carbon in these products during the light period. The ratio of primary partitioning into sucrose and starch varied from about 0.5 in those species that accumulated mostly starch in the leaves (Amaranthus edulis L., Atriplex spongiosa F. Muell. and Flaveria trinervia (Spreng.) C. Mohr) to about 8 in Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn., which accumulated mostly sucrose. No label was detected in free glucose or fructose. Generally there was a reasonable link between the primary partitioning of photosynthate and the type of carbohydrate stored in the leaf during the day. However, the ratio of carbon initially partitioned into sucrose versus starch was about 3 to 4 times higher in leaves of NADP-malic enzyme-type monocotyledonous species compared with phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase-type species, although the ratio of sucrose to starch accumulated in leaves during the day was very similar in the two groups. Sucrose and starch were the principal carbohydrates accumulated in leaves during the day. None of the species examined contained significant amounts of fructan and only one species, Atriplex spongiosa, contained substantial amounts of hexose sugars. In most of the species studied, the proportion of photosynthate partitioned into starch was greater at the end of the day than at the beginning. With the exception of Flaveria trinervia, the rate of CO2 assimilation did not decline during the day, showing that, under our conditions, accumulation of carbohydrate in the leaves did not lead to feedback inhibition of photosynthesis in these C4 species.