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While uniparental transmission of mtDNA is widespread and dominating in eukaryotes leaving mutation as the major source of genotypic diversity, recently, biparental inheritance of mitochondrial genes has been demonstrated in reciprocal crosses of Pelargonium zonale and P. inquinans. The thereby arising heteroplasmy carries the potential for recombination between mtDNAs of different descent, i.e. between the parental mitochondrial genomes. We have analyzed these Pelargonium hybrids for mitochondrial intergenomic recombination events by examining differences in DNA blot hybridization patterns of the mitochondrial genes atp1 and cob. Further investigation of these genes and their flanking regions using nucleotide sequence polymorphisms and PCR revealed DNA segments in the progeny, which contained both P. zonale and P. inquinans sequences suggesting an intergenomic recombination in hybrids of Pelargonium. This turns Pelargonium into an interesting subject for studies of recombination and evolutionary dynamics of mitochondrial genomes. more...

Electrical signals (action and variation potentials) caused by environmental stimuli induce a number of physiological responses in plants including changes in photosynthesis; however, mechanisms of these changes remain unclear. We investigated the influence of the variation potential on photosynthesis in geranium (Pelargonium zonale) under different conditions (control, low external CO₂ concentration, and actinic light absence). The variation potential caused by lamina burning induced a reduction in photosynthesis (decreases in effective quantum yields of photosystem I and II, CO₂ assimilation rate, and stomatal conductance) in unstimulated leaves under control conditions. Changes in the majority of light-stage parameters (photosystem I and II quantum yields, coefficients of photochemical and non-photochemical quenching, quantum yield of non-photochemical energy dissipation in photosystem I due to donor-side limitation) were correlated with a decrease in CO₂ assimilation rate. The changes were similar to those caused by lowering [CO₂]; their magnitudes decreased both under low external CO₂ concentration and without actinic light. These results support the hypothesis that Calvin cycle inactivation plays a key role in photosynthetic response induced by electrical signals. However, a decrease in electron transport through the PSI acceptor side also induced by variation potential was not correlated with a decrease in the CO₂ assimilation rate and did not depend on the external CO₂ concentration or actinic light intensity. Thus, we suggest that there are two different mechanisms of light-stage inactivation induced by the variation potential in geranium: one strongly dependent on dark-stage inactivation and one weakly dependent on dark-stage inactivation. more...

The division of chloroplasts (plastids) is critical for the viability of photosynthetic eukaryotes. Previously we reported on the chloroplast division apparatus, which consists of inner and outer double or triple rings (PD rings). Chloroplasts are assumed to arise from bacterial endosymbionts, while bacterial division is instigated by a bacterial cytokinesis Z-ring protein (FtsZ). Here we present immunofluorescence and electron-microscopic evidence of chloroplast division via complex machinery involving the FtsZ and PD rings in the higher plant Pelargonium zonale Ait. Prior to invagination, the FtsZ protein was attached to a ring at the stromal division site. Following formation of the FtsZ ring, the inner stromal and outer cytosolic PD rings appeared, signifying the initiation of invagination. The FtsZ ring and the PD rings were found at the leading edge of chloroplast constriction throughout division. During chloroplast division, neither the FtsZ nor the inner rings changed width, but the volume of the outer ring gradually increased. We suggest that the FtsZ ring determines the division region, after which the inner and outer PD rings are formed as a lining for the FtsZ ring. With the outer ring providing the motivating force, the FtsZ and inner PD rings ultimately decompose to their base components. more...

Organellar DNA in mature pollen grains of eight angiosperm species (Actinidia deliciosa Lindl., Antirrhinum majus L., Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh., Medicago sativa L., Musa acuminata Colla, Pelargonium zonale (L.) L'Hér, Petunia hybrida Vilm. and Rhododendron mucronatum (Blume) G. Don, in which the modes of organellar inheritance have been determined genetically, was observed by fluorescence microscopy using Technovit 7100 resin sections double-stained with 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) and 3,3'-dihexyloxacarbocyanine iodide (DiOC(6)). The eight species were classified into four types, based on the presence or absence of organellar DNA in mature generative cells: namely (1) type "m+p+", which has both mitochondrial and plastid DNA (P. zonale), (2) type "m+p-", which only has mitochondrial DNA (M. acuminata), (3) type "m-p+", which only has plastid DNA (A. deliciosa, M. sativa, R. mucronatum), and (4) type "m-p-", which has neither mitochondrial nor plastid DNA (A. majus, A. thaliana, P. hybrida). This classification corresponded to the mode of organellar inheritance determined by genetic analysis. The presence or absence of mitochondrial and plastid DNA corresponded to paternal/biparental inheritance or maternal inheritance of the respective organelle, respectively. When organellar DNA was present in mature generative cells (m+ or p+), the DNA content of the organelles in the generative cells started to increase immediately after pollen mitosis one (PMI). In contrast, the DNA content of organelles in generative cells decreased rapidly after PMI when organellar DNA was absent from mature generative cells (m- or p-). These results indicate that the modes of inheritance (paternal/biparental inheritance or maternal inheritance) of mitochondria and plastids are determined independently of each other in young generative cells just after PMI. more...

Atmospheric ammonia (NH3) from various anthropogenic sources has become a serious problem for natural vegetation. Ammonia not only causes changes in plant nitrogen metabolism, but also affects the acid-base balance of plants. Using the pH-sensitive fluorescent dyes pyranine and esculin, cytosolic and vacuolar pH changes were measured in leaves of C3 and C4 plants exposed for brief periods to concentrations of NH3 in air ranging from 1.33 to 8.29 μmol NH3 · mol-1 gas (0.94–5.86 mg · m-3). After a lag phase, uptake of NH3 from air at a rate of 200 nmol NH3 · m - 2 leaf area · s- 1 into leaves of Zea mays L. increased pyranine fluorescence indicating cytosolic alkalinisation. The increase was much larger in the dark than in the light. In illuminated leaves of the C3 plant Pelargonium zonale L. and the C4 plants Z. mays and Amaranthus caudatus L., NH3-dependent cytosolic alkalinisation was particularly pronounced when CO2 was supplied at very low levels (16 or 20 μmol CO2 · mol- 1 gas, containing 210 mmol O2 · mol- 1 gas). An increase in esculin fluorescence, which was smaller than that of pyranine, was indicative of trapping of some of the NH3 in the vacuoles of leaves of Spinacia oleracea L. and Z. mays. Photosynthesis and transpiration remained unchanged during exposure of illuminated leaves to NH3, yielding an influx of 200 nmol NH3 · m-2 leaf area · s-1 for up to 30 min, the longest exposure time used. Both CO2 and O2 influenced the extent of cytosolic alkalinisation. At 500 μmol CO2 · mol-1 gas the cytosolic alkalinisation was suppressed more than at 16 or 20 μmol CO2 · mol-1 gas. The suppressing effect of CO2 on the NH3induced alkalinisation was larger in illuminated leaves of the C4 plants Z. mays and A. caudatus than in leaves of the C3 plant P. zonale. A reduction of the O2 concentration from 210 to 10 mmol O2 · mol -1 gas, which inhibits photorespiration, increased the NH3induced cytosolic alkalinisation in C3 plants. Suppression by CO2 or O2 of the alkaline pH shift caused by the dissolution and protonation of NH3 in queous leaf compartments, and possibly by the production of organic compounds synthesised from atmospheric NH3, indicates that NH3 which enters leaves is rapidly assimilated if photosynthesis or photorespiration provide nitrogen acceptor molecules. more...

Translocation of (14)C-labelled assimilates down the petioles was studied in intact plants of Pelargonium zonale (L.) L'Hérit ex Ait. The central bundle of the petiole was dissected out and treated with solutions of various inhibitors. Whereas cytochalasin B had no effect on (14)C-translocation, a distinct and localized inhibition was caused by CCCP (10(-7) M), antimycin (5×10(-5) M), atractylate (5×10(-5) M), and valinomycin (10(-5) M) without any significant change in the proportion of [(14)C]sucrose in the translocate. The inhibition of translocation is inferred both by accumulation of (14)C distal to and a decrease in (14)C concentration basal to the treated petiolar region. If valinomycin was fed into the transpiration stream by flapping the peripheral bundles of the petioles an increased labeling of sugar phosphates occurred in the (14)C fed leaf. Plasmolysis tests indicated that whereas CCCP interfered with the semipermeability of phloem cell membranes, valinomycin had no such effect. The results with valinomycin suggest a compartmentation of potassium ions for the translocation process but are ambiguous as to whether or not a potassium pump is involved. more...

The ultrastructure of the generative cell of the pollen grain has been studied in two different plants: Mirabilis jalapa L., where variegation is transmitted only by the egg cell, and Pelargonium zonale AIT., where variegation can be transmitted also by the pollen grain. It was found that only in Pelargonium zonale AIT. does the male generative cell possesses a great number of proplastids. more...

The petiole of Pelargonium zonale is traversed by 17 bundles, whose arrangement and form are typical for this plant. The bundles of the petiole are connected with the conducting system of the axis and with the main nerves by a system of phloem anastomoses in the leaf base and in the junction between the petiole and the leaf blade (Fig. 2). The anatomical findings were confirmed and extended by a study of the translocation of K-fluorescein and 14C. It could be shown that the metaphloem of the central petiole bundle is composed of phloem subunits, each of which is connected with the phloem of one certain main nerve only (Fig. 4). Accordingly, if fluorescein or 14CO2 is applied to one main nerve, the dye or 14C-material is translocated exclusively in a small phloem area of the central bundle. Autoradiograms of the petioles indicate that the 14C-labelled assimilates (sucrose, glucose, fructose and amino acids) are translocated exclusively in the phloem. A lateral movement of the labelled material within the petiole was not observed. The metaphloem of the central petiole bundle of Pelargonium zonale revealed a functional organization of phloem subunits. more...