Temperature effects on malic-acid efflux from the vacuoles and on the carboxylation pathways in crassulacean-acid-metabolism plants

Abstract

The studies described in the paper were conducted with tissue slices of Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) plants floating in isotonic buffer. In a first series of experiments, temperature effects on the efflux of [(14)C]malate and(14)CO2 were studied. An increase of temperature increased the efflux from the tissue in a non-linear manner. The efflux was markedly influenced also by the temperatures applied during the pretreatment. The rates of label export in response to the temperature and the relative contributions of(14)CO2 and [(14)C]malate to the label export were different in the two studied CAM plants (Kalanchoë daigremontiana, Sempervivum montanum). In further experiments, temperature response of the labelling patterns produced by(14)CO2 fixation and light and darkness were studied. In tissue which had accumulated malate (acidified state) an increase of temperature decreased the rates of dark CO2 fixation whilst the rates of CO2 fixation in light remained largely unaffected. An increase of temperature shifted the labelling patterns from a C4-type (malate being the mainly labelled compound) into a C3-type (label in carbohydrates). No such shift in the labelling patterns could be observed in the tissue which had depleted the previously stored malate (deacidified state). The results indicate that in the acidified tissue the increase of temperature increases the efflux of malate from the vacuole by changing the properties of the tonoplast. It is assumed that the increased export of malic acid lowers the in-vivo activity of phosphoenol pyruvate carboxylase by feedback inhibition.