Significant changes in cell and chloroplast development in young wheat leaves (Triticum aestivum cv Hereward) grown in elevated CO2

Abstract

Cell and chloroplast development were characterized in young Triticum aestivum cv Hereward leaves grown at ambient (350 μL L-1) or at elevated (650 μL L-1) CO2, In elevated CO2, cell and chloroplast expansion was accelerated by 10 and 25%, respectively, in the first leaf of 7-d-old wheat plants without disruption to the leaf developmental pattern. Elevated CO2 did not affect the number of chloroplasts in relation to mesophyll cell size or the linear relationship between chloroplast number or size and mesophyll cell size. No major changes in leaf anatomy or in chloroplast ultrastructure were detected as a result of growth in elevated CO2, but there was a marked reduction in starch accumulation. In leaf sections fluorescently tagged antisera were used to visualize and quantitate the amount of cytochrome f, the α- and β-subunits of the coupling factor 1 in ATP synthase, D1 protein of the photosystem II reaction center, the 33-kD protein of the extrinsic oxygen-evolving complex, subunit II of photosystem I, and ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase. A significant finding was that in 10 to 20% of the mesophyll cells grown in elevated CO2 the 33-kD protein of the extrinsic oxygen-evolving complex of photosystem II and cytochrome f were deficient by 75%, but the other proteins accumulated normally.