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Membrane Phospholipid Phase Separations in Plants Adapted to or Acclimated to Different Thermal Regimes ¹

Department of Plant Biology, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 290 Panama Street, Stanford, California 94305

The phase separation temperatures of total leaf phospholipids from warm and cool climate plants were determined in order to explore the relationship of lipid physical properties to a species' thermal habitat. The separation temperatures were determined by measuring the fluorescence intensity and fluorescence polarization of liposomes labeled with the polyene fatty acid probe trans-parinaric acid. To focus on a single climatic region, Mojave Desert dicots (chiefly ephemeral annuals) were examined, with plants grown under identical conditions whenever possible. Winter active species showed lower phase separation temperatures than the summer active species. A group of warm climate annual grasses showed separation temperatures distinctly higher than those of a group of cool climate grasses, all grown from seed under the same conditions. Growth at low temperature seems correlated with (and may require) a low phase separation temperature. Winter active ephemerals appear genetically programmed to synthesize a mixture of phospholipids which will not phase separate in the usual growth conditions. When the lipids of desert perennials were examined in cool and warm seasons, there was a pronounced seasonal shift in the phase separation temperature, implying environmental influences on lipid physical properties. The relationship of these results to high and low temperature tolerance is discussed.

³ Supported in part by a National Science Foundation Science Faculty Professional Development Award and by a grant from the Mellon Foundation fund of Franklin and Marshall College.

⁴ To whom correspondence should be addressed.

¹ Supported in part by the Science and Education Administration of the United States Department of Agriculture Grant 5901-0410-8-0128 from the Competitive Research Grants Office. CIW/DPB Publication No. 674.

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