Comparison of CAM expression, photochemistry and antioxidant responses in Sedum album and Portulaca oleracea under combined stress

Physiological and biochemical changes associated with the induction of facultative CAM in Pereskia aculeata under drought stress and recovery

Climate change-induced drought increasingly threatens plant productivity. Facultative Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM) represents a potential adaptive strategy, allowing plants to optimize water use efficiency, but the mechanisms underlying its induction and regulation remain poorly understood in many edible wild plant species. This motivated the present study which aimed to characterize the physiological and biochemical changes associated with the induction of facultative CAM in Pereskia aculeata under drought stress and subsequent recovery. Seedlings were subjected to a 60-day drought period followed by rehydration. We assessed the effects on growth, water status, gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence, CAM-related physiological parameters (titratable acidity, malate content, and the activities of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPc) and malate dehydrogenase (MDH)), as well as reactive oxygen species (ROS) metabolism. Drought induced significant nocturnal accumulation of malate and nocturnal acidity and increased the activities of PEPc and MDH. While antioxidant enzyme activities decreased during drought, they increased significantly after rehydration. Collectively the data suggest an induction of facultative CAM in P. aculeata under drought and highlight key physiological and biochemical changes accompanying this C3 to CAM photosynthesis transition that may assist in balancing productivity and water conservation and managing oxidative stress during drought. This study provides valuable insights into the physiological and biochemical mechanisms underlying CAM induction in wild species, which points to their potential for enhancing drought tolerance in plants, particularly in the context of climate change.

Gene duplications facilitate C4-CAM compatibility in common purslane

Common purslane (Portulaca oleracea) integrates both C4 and crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) photosynthesis pathways and is a promising model plant to explore C4-CAM plasticity. Here, we report a high-quality chromosome-level genome of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)-malic enzyme (ME) subtype common purslane that provides evidence for 2 rounds of whole-genome duplication (WGD) with an ancient WGD (P-β) in the common ancestor to Portulacaceae and Cactaceae around 66.30 million years ago (Mya) and another (Po-α) specific to common purslane lineage around 7.74 Mya. A larger number of gene copies encoding key enzymes/transporters involved in C4 and CAM pathways were detected in common purslane than in related species. Phylogeny, conserved functional site, and collinearity analyses revealed that the Po-α WGD produced the phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase-encoded gene copies used for photosynthesis in common purslane, while the P-β WGD event produced 2 ancestral genes of functionally differentiated (C4- and CAM-specific) beta carbonic anhydrases involved in the C4 + CAM pathways. Additionally, cis-element enrichment analysis in the promoters showed that CAM-specific genes have recruited both evening and midnight circadian elements as well as the Abscisic acid (ABA)-independent regulatory module mediated by ethylene-response factor cis-elements. Overall, this study provides insights into the origin and evolutionary process of C4 and CAM pathways in common purslane, as well as potential targets for engineering crops by integrating C4 or CAM metabolism.

Defining Mechanisms of C3 to CAM Photosynthesis Transition toward Enhancing Crop Stress Resilience

Global climate change and population growth are persistently posing threats to natural resources (e.g., freshwater) and agricultural production. Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) evolved from C3 photosynthesis as an adaptive form of photosynthesis in hot and arid regions. It features the nocturnal opening of stomata for CO2 assimilation, diurnal closure of stomata for water conservation, and high water-use efficiency. To cope with global climate challenges, the CAM mechanism has attracted renewed attention. Facultative CAM is a specialized form of CAM that normally employs C3 or C4 photosynthesis but can shift to CAM under stress conditions. It not only serves as a model for studying the molecular mechanisms underlying the CAM evolution, but also provides a plausible solution for creating stress-resilient crops with facultative CAM traits. This review mainly discusses the recent research effort in defining the C3 to CAM transition of facultative CAM plants, and highlights challenges and future directions in this important research area with great application potential.

The photosynthetic apparatus of the CAM plant Tillandsia flabellate and its response to water deficit

CAM plants are superior to C₃ plants in drought resistance because of their peculiar photosynthesis pathway and morphological features. While those aspects have been studied for decades, little is known about the photosynthetic machinery of CAM plants. Here, we used a combination of biochemical and biophysical methods to study the photosynthetic apparatus of Tillandsia flabellate, an obligatory CAM plant. Most of the Photosystems super- and sub-complexes have properties very similar to those of Arabidopsis, with the main difference that in Tillandsia PSI-LHCI complexes bind extra LHCI. Functional measurements show that the PSI/PSII ratio is rather low compared to other plants and that the antenna size of both PSI and PSII is small. Upon 30-day water deficiency, the composition of the photosystems does not change significantly, PSII efficiency remains high and no Photosystem II photoinhibition was detected despite a reduction of non-photochemical quenching (NPQ).

Changes in crassulacean acid metabolism expression, chloroplast ultrastructure, photochemical and antioxidant activity in the Aloe vera during acclimation to combined drought and salt stress

We determined time course changes of photochemical and antioxidant activity during the induction of strong crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) in Aloe vera L. plants grown under salt and drought stress. We found that the strong CAM was induced during 25-30days of drought alone treatment. After 25-30days, we showed the withdrawal of strong CAM back to constitutive CAM background under the combination of simultaneous drought and salt stress, which coincided with the accumulation of malondialdehyde, and the decrease in the contents of endogenous nitric oxide (NO) and non-enzymatic antioxidants. At the same time, the chloroplast ultrastructure was damaged with a parallel accumulation of reactive oxygen species, and the whole photosynthetic electron transport flux was impaired by combined stress treatment. In conclusion, the changes in CAM expression parameters was attended by a similar pattern of antioxidant and photochemical change in Aloe plants subjected to only drought or combined stress.

Transcriptomic and Biochemical Analysis Reveal Integrative Pathways Between Carbon and Nitrogen Metabolism in Guzmania monostachia (Bromeliaceae) Under Drought

Most epiphytes are found in low-nutrient environments with an intermittent water supply. To deal with water limitation, many bromeliads perform crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM), such as Guzmania monostachia, which shifts from C₃ to CAM and can recycle CO₂ from the respiration while stomata remain closed during daytime and nighttime (CAM-idling mode). Since the absorbing leaf trichomes can be in contact with organic (urea) and inorganic nutrients (NO₃ ^-, NH₄ ⁺) and the urea hydrolysis releases NH₄ ⁺ and CO₂, we hypothesized that urea can integrate the N and C metabolism during periods of severe drought. Under this condition, NH₄ ⁺ can be assimilated into amino acids through glutamine synthetase (GS), while the CO₂ can be pre-fixated by phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC). In this context, we evaluated the foliar transcriptome of G. monostachia to compare the relative gene expression of some genes involved with CAM and the N metabolism when bromeliads were submitted to 7days of drought. We also conducted a controlled experiment with an extended water deficit period (21days) in which bromeliads were cultivated in different N sources (urea, NH₄ ⁺, and NO₃ ^-). Our transcriptome results demonstrated an increment in the expression of genes related to CAM, particularly those involved in the carboxylation metabolism (PEPC1, PPCK, and NAD-MDH), the movement of malate through vacuolar membrane (ALMT9), and the decarboxylation process (PEPCK). Urea stimulated the expression of PEPC1 and ALMT9, while Urease transcripts increased under water deficit. Under this same condition, GS1 gene expression increased, indicating that the NH₄ ⁺ from urea hydrolysis can be assimilated in the cytosol. We suggest that the link between C and N metabolism occurred through the supply of carbon skeleton (2-oxoglutarate, 2-OG) by the cytosolic isocitrate dehydrogenase since the number of NADP-ICDH transcripts was also higher under drought conditions. These findings indicate that while urea hydrolysis provides NH₄ ⁺ that can be consumed by glutamine synthetase-cytosolic/glutamate synthase (GS1/GOGAT) cycle, the CO₂ can be used by CAM, maintaining photosynthetic efficiency even when most stomata remain closed 24h (CAM-idling) as in the case of a severe water deficit condition. Thus, we suggest that urea could be used by G. monostachia as a strategy to increase its survival under drought, integrating N and C metabolism.

Effects of sub-optimal illumination in plants. Comprehensive chlorophyll fluorescence analysis

The fluorescence signals emitted by chlorophyll molecules of plants is a promising non-destructive indicator of plant physiology due to its close link to photosynthesis. In this work, a deep photophysical study of chlorophyll fluorescence was provided, to assess the sub-optimal illumination effects on three plant species: L. sativa, A. hybridus and S. dendroideum. In all the cases, low light (LL) treatment induced an increase in pigment content. Fluorescence ratios - corrected by light reabsorption processes - remained constant, which suggested that photosystems stoichiometry was conserved. For all species and treatments, quantum yields of photophysical decay remained around 0.2, which meant that the maximum possible photosynthesis efficiency was about 0.8. L. sativa (C3) acclimated to low light illumination, displayed a strong increase in the LHC size and a net decrease in the photosynthetic efficiency. A. hybridus (C4) was not appreciably stressed by the low light availability whereas S. dendroideum (CAM), decreased its antenna and augmented the quantum yield of primary photochemistry. A novel approach to describe NPQ relaxation kinetics was also presented here and used to calculate typical deactivation times and amplitudes for NPQ components. LL acclimated L. sativa presented a much larger deactivation time for its state-transition-related quenching than the other species. Comprehensive fluorescence analysis allowed a deep study of the changes in the light-dependent reactions of photosynthesis upon low light illumination treatment.