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Mercury hinders recovery of shoot hydraulic conductivity during grapevine rehydration: evidence from a whole‐plant approach
Author(s) -
Lovisolo Claudio,
Schubert Andrea
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
new phytologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.742
H-Index - 244
eISSN - 1469-8137
pISSN - 0028-646X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2006.01852.x
Subject(s) - shoot , xylem , hydraulic conductivity , chloride , horticulture , chemistry , water transport , botany , biology , soil water , water flow , environmental science , environmental engineering , ecology , organic chemistry
Summary• This experiment aimed to test whether recovery of shoot hydraulic conductivity after drought depends on cellular metabolism in addition to xylem hydraulics. • We rehydrated droughted grapevines ( Vitis vinifera ) after treating intact plants through the root with 0.5 m m mercuric chloride (a metabolic inhibitor) at the end of the stress period, before rehydration. The contribution of mercury‐inhibited water transport in both shoot and root, and the extent of shoot vessel embolization, were assessed. • Drought stress decreased plant water potential and induced embolization of the shoot vessels. The rehydration in Hg‐untreated plants re‐established both shoot water potential and specific shoot hydraulic conductivity ( K ss ) at levels comparable with watered controls, and induced recovery of most of the embolisms formed in the shoot during the drought. In contrast, in plants treated with HgCl 2 , recovery of K ss and root hydraulic conductance were impaired. In rehydrated, Hg‐treated plants, the effects of Hg on K ss were reversed when either the shoot or the root was treated with 60 m m β‐mercaptoethanol as a mercuric scavenger. • This work suggests that plant cellular metabolism, sensitive to mercuric chloride, affects the recovery of shoot hydraulic conductivity during grapevine rehydration by interfering with embolism removal, and that it involves either the root or the shoot level.