Girdling interruption between source and sink in Quercus pubescens does not trigger leaf senescence

• Published in: Photosynthetica Vol. 54; no. 4; pp. 589 - 597
• Main Authors: Holland, V., Fragner, L., Jungcurt, T., Weckwerth, W., Brüggemann, W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Praha The Institute of Experimental Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences 01.12.2016; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Accumulation; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Change detection; Chlorophyll; Fluorescence; Fructose; Girdling; Glucose; Indication; Inhibition; Interruption; Leaves; Life Sciences; Mechanical properties; Metabolites; Original Papers; Oxidative stress; Photosynthesis; Photosynthetic apparatus; Plant Physiology; Plant tissues; Senescence; Signal transduction; Signaling; Sugar; metabolomics; PEA; chlorophyll fluorescence; SPAD; climate change; JIP-test
• ISSN: 0300-3604; 1573-9058
• DOI: 10.1007/s11099-016-0646-3

Metabolite changes and senescence behaviour after mechanical phloem girdling were studied in leaf tissue of Quercus pubescens . Sugar accumulation is not only considered to be an important part of several developmental signalling pathways, but is also seen as one of the basic triggers for senescence induction, or at least an obligatory accessory phenomenon. Our survey showed that an accumulation of the soluble sugars, glucose and fructose, was not on its own obligatorily connected with the induction of leaf senescence, since no indication or even an onset of senescence could be observed during the course of the experiment. Instead, we observed an inhibition of leaf development with a decrease of photosynthesis and a slow-down of development in nearly all chlorophyll a fluorescence analysis parameters using the JIP-test. We detected a change of metabolites linked to oxidative stress, possibly due to an overexcitation of the developmentally inhibited photosynthetic apparatus.