Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide Fluxes from Barley Shoots Depend on Nitrate Assimilation

A custom oxygen analyzer in conjunction with an infrared carbon dioxide analyzer and humidity sensors permitted simultaneous measurements of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water vapor fluxes from the shoots of intact barley plants (Hordeum vulgare L. cv Steptoe). The oxygen analyzer is based on a calciazirconium sensor and can resolve concentration differences to within 2 microliters per liter against the normal background of 210,000 microliters per liter. In wild-type plants receiving ammonium as their sole nitrogen source or in nitrate reductase-deficient mutants, photosynthetic and respiratory fluxes of oxygen equaled those of carbon dioxide. By contrast, wild-type plants exposed to nitrate had unequal oxygen and carbon dioxide fluxes: oxygen evolution at high light exceeded carbon dioxide consumption by 26% and carbon dioxide evolution in the dark exceeded oxygen consumption by 25%. These results indicate that a substantial portion of photosynthetic electron transport or respiration generates reductant for nitrate assimilation rather than for carbon fixation or mitochondrial electron transport.