ISSN:
1573-2932
Keywords:
Ponderosa pine
;
elevated CO2
;
growth
;
gene expression
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
Notes:
Abstract Biochemical and gene expression changes in response to elevated atmospheric CO2 were investigated in five maternal half-sibling breeding families of Ponderosa pine. Seedlings were grown in a common garden located at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, in open-topped chambers (OTC) for two years. Chamber atmospheres were maintained at ambient, ambient + 175 μL L-1, CO2, or ambient + 350 μL L-1CO2. Growth measurements showed significant increases in stem volumes and volume enhancement ratios in three of the five families studied when grown under elevated CO2. Biochemical and gene expression studies were undertaken to gain a mechanistic understanding of these phenotypic responses. Biochemical studies focused on sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS) specific activities at increase CO2 levels. Kinetic evaluations of SPS showed an increase in VMax. Specific SPS probes revealed increases in the transcriptional levels of one SPS gene with exposure to increasing CO2. RT-PCR differential gene displays showed that overall only a small fraction of visualized gene transcripts responded to elevated CO2 (8-10%). There were also significant differences between the gene expression patterns of the different families, some of which correlated with alterations in growth at elevated CO2 levels.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1005207112589
