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Carbon partitioning in A rabidopsis thaliana is a dynamic process controlled by the plants metabolic status and its circadian clock
Author(s) -
Kölling Katharina,
Thalmann Matthias,
Müller Antonia,
Jenny Camilla,
Zeeman Samuel C.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
plant, cell and environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.646
H-Index - 200
eISSN - 1365-3040
pISSN - 0140-7791
DOI - 10.1111/pce.12512
Subject(s) - photosynthesis , starch , circadian clock , sink (geography) , carbon sink , carbon fibers , mutant , carbon cycle , carbon source , circadian rhythm , chemistry , botany , biology , biochemistry , ecology , climate change , gene , computer science , ecosystem , cartography , neuroscience , composite number , geography , algorithm
Plant growth involves the coordinated distribution of carbon resources both towards structural components and towards storage compounds that assure a steady carbon supply over the complete diurnal cycle. We used 14 CO 2 labelling to track assimilated carbon in both source and sink tissues. Source tissues exhibit large variations in carbon allocation throughout the light period. The most prominent change was detected in partitioning towards starch, being low in the morning and more than double later in the day. Export into sink tissues showed reciprocal changes. Fewer and smaller changes in carbon allocation occurred in sink tissues where, in most respects, carbon was partitioned similarly, whether the sink leaf assimilated it through photosynthesis or imported it from source leaves. Mutants deficient in the production or remobilization of leaf starch exhibited major alterations in carbon allocation. Low‐starch mutants that suffer from carbon starvation at night allocated much more carbon into neutral sugars and had higher rates of export than the wild type, partly because of the reduced allocation into starch, but also because of reduced allocation into structural components. Moreover, mutants deficient in the plant's circadian system showed considerable changes in their carbon partitioning pattern suggesting control by the circadian clock.