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Environment or Development? Lifetime Net CO₂ Exchange and Control of the Expression of Crassulacean Acid Metabolism in Mesembryanthemum crystallinum¹

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Ancon, Republic of Panama (K.W.); and Tropical Plant Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia (J.A.M.H.)

The relative influence of plant age and environmental stress signals in triggering a shift from C₃ photosynthesis to Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) in the annual halophytic C₃-CAM species Mesembryanthemum crystallinum was explored by continuously monitoring net CO₂ exchange of whole shoots from the seedling stage until seed set. Plants exposed to high salinity (400 mM NaCl) in hydroponic culture solution or grown in saline-droughted soil acquired between 11% and 24% of their carbon via net dark CO₂ uptake involving CAM. In contrast, plants grown under nonsaline, well-watered conditions were capable of completing their life cycle by operating in the C₃ mode without ever exhibiting net CO₂ uptake at night. These observations are not consistent with the widely expressed view that the induction of CAM by high salinity in M. crystallinum represents an acceleration of preprogrammed developmental processes. Rather, our study demonstrates that the induction of the CAM pathway for carbon acquisition in M. crystallinum is under environmental control.

The author responsible for distribution of materials integral to the findings presented in this article in accordance with the policy described in the Instructions for Authors (www.plantphysiol.org) is: Klaus Winter (winterk{at}si.edu).

www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/doi/10.1104/pp.106.088922

^* Corresponding author; e-mail winterk{at}si.edu; fax 507–212–8148.

Received August 30, 2006; accepted October 9, 2006; published October 20, 2006.

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