Abstract
To uncover the potential antioxidative role of anthocyanins in vivo in protecting photosynthetic tissues from photoinhibition, the effects of high irradiance [HI, 1300 μmol(photon) m−2 s−1] were studied using detached leaves derived from Arabidopsis wild-type (WT) and the mutant deficient in anthocyanin biosynthesis (tt3tt4). HI stress caused decreased chlorophyll content and photochemical efficiency, but increased cell-membrane leakage and contents of hydrogen peroxide and superoxide radical in the leaves of both Arabidopsis phenotypes, but the WT plants showed better HI tolerance than tt3tt4 mutant. HI caused a significant increase in the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl scavenging capacity in WT but not in the tt3tt4 mutant. The anthocyanins could not contribute substantially to light-shielding during the periods of HI stress, because the anthocyanin content in WT was very low and the colour of leaves was the same as in the tt3tt4 mutant. Thus, it was assumed that the better HI tolerance in WT was mostly related to the potential antioxidative role of anthocyanins.
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Abbreviations
- OH· :
-
hydroxyl radical
- CHS:
-
chalcone synthase
- DAB:
-
diaminobenzidine
- DFR:
-
dihydroflavono-4-reductase
- DPPH:
-
1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl
- ETR:
-
apparent electron transport rate
- Fv/Fm :
-
variable to maximum fluorescence ratio (the maximum photosystem 2 quantum yield)
- NBT:
-
nitroblue tetrazolium
- \({{\rm{O}}_2}{ \cdot ^ - }\) :
-
superoxide radical
- qP:
-
the coefficient of photochemical quenching
- ROS:
-
reactive oxygen species
- tt3tt4 :
-
tt3tt4 mutant deficient in anthocyanin biosynthesis
- WT:
-
wild-type
- ΦPS2 :
-
effective photosystem 2 quantum yield
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Acknowledgements
We thank Prof. Wah Soon Chow from the Australian National University for his useful suggestions on the manuscript. This research is financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (30770173, 30870385), The State Key Basic Research and Development Plan of China (973 Program; 2009CB118504). The first two authors contributed equally to this work
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Zhang, Q., Su, L.J., Chen, J.W. et al. The antioxidative role of anthocyanins in Arabidopsis under high-irradiance. Biol Plant 56, 97–104 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10535-012-0022-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10535-012-0022-5