Biomedical subjects

B Grodzinski

Publications and source records attributed to B Grodzinski.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1999

Sealed environment chamber for canopy light interception and trace hydrocarbon analyses.

Two sealed chambers were constructed, each measuring approximately 4.5 m x 3 m x 2.5 m (LxWxH). Heat exchangers and air handling components were integrated within the sealed environment. Construction materials were chosen to minimize off-gassing and oxidation. Acceptable materials included stainless steel, Teflon (TM), glass and Heresite (TM) or baked enamel coated metal parts. The glass-topped chambers have externally mounted microwave powered light sources providing minimum PAR at canopy level of 1000 micrometers m-2 s-1. Major gases (CO2, O2) were monitored. Other environmental variables relevant to plant production (humidity, temperature, nutrient solution) were monitored and controlled continuously. Typical environment control capability and system specifications are presented. The facility is described as a venue ideally suited to address specific research objectives in plant canopy light interception, such as the roles of novel microwave powered overhead and inner-canopy light sources for dense plant canopies. In addition, control of recycled hydroponic nutrient solutions and analysis of trace atmospheric hydrocarbons in the context of sealed environment life support can be concurrently monitored.

Air Conditioning↗

PubMed1999

Regulating plant/insect interactions using CO2 enrichment in model ecosystems.

The greenhouse environment is a challenging artificial ecosystem in which it is possible to study selected plant/insect interaction in a controlled environment. Due to a combination of "direct" and "indirect" effects of CO2 enrichment on plant photosynthesis and plant development, canopy productivity is generally increased. In this paper, we discuss the effects of daytime and nighttime CO2 enrichment protocols on gas exchange of pepper plants (Capsicum annuum L, cv Cubico) grown in controlled environments. In addition, we present the effects of thrips, a common Insect pest, on the photosynthetic and respiratory activity of these plant canopies. Carbon dioxide has diverse effects on the physiology and mortality of insects. However, our data indicate that thrips and whiteflies, at least, are not killed "directly" by CO2 levels used to enhance photosynthesis and plant growth. Together the data suggest that the insect population is affected "indirectly" by CO2 and that the primary effect of CO2 is via its effects on plant metabolism.

Animals↗

PubMed1999

Photosynthesis and carbon partitioning in transgenic tobacco plants deficient in leaf cytosolic pyruvate kinase

Whole-plant diurnal C exchange analysis provided a noninvasive estimation of daily net C gain in transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) plants deficient in leaf cytosolic pyruvate kinase (PKc-). PKc- plants cultivated under a low light intensity (100 &mgr;mol m-2 s-1) were previously shown to exhibit markedly reduced root growth, as well as delayed shoot and flower development when compared with plants having wild-type levels of PKc (PKc+). PKc- and PKc+ source leaves showed a similar net C gain, photosynthesis over a range of light intensities, and a capacity to export newly fixed 14CO2 during photosynthesis. However, during growth under low light the nighttime, export of previously fixed 14CO2 by fully expanded PKc- leaves was 40% lower, whereas concurrent respiratory 14CO2 evolution was 40% higher than that of PKc+ leaves. This provides a rationale for the reduced root growth of the PKc- plants grown at low irradiance. Leaf photosynthetic and export characteristics in PKc- and PKc+ plants raised in a greenhouse during winter months resembled those of plants grown in chambers at low irradiance. The data suggest that PKc in source leaves has a critical role in regulating nighttime respiration particularly when the available pool of photoassimilates for export and leaf respiratory processes are low.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1998

Estimating photosynthesis and concurrent export rates in C3 and C4 species at ambient and elevated CO21,2

The ability of 21 C3 and C4 monocot and dicot species to rapidly export newly fixed C in the light at both ambient and enriched CO2 levels was compared. Photosynthesis and concurrent export rates were estimated during isotopic equilibrium of the transport sugars using a steady-state 14CO2-labeling procedure. At ambient CO2 photosynthesis and export rates for C3 species were 5 to 15 and 1 to 10 &mgr;mol C m-2 s-1, respectively, and 20 to 30 and 15 to 22 &mgr;mol C m-2 s-1, respectively, for C4 species. A linear regression plot of export on photosynthesis rate of all species had a correlation coefficient of 0.87. When concurrent export was expressed as a percentage of photosynthesis, several C3 dicots that produced transport sugars other than Suc had high efflux rates relative to photosynthesis, comparable to those of C4 species. At high CO2 photosynthetic and export rates were only slightly altered in C4 species, and photosynthesis increased but export rates did not in all C3 species. The C3 species that had high efflux rates relative to photosynthesis at ambient CO2 exported at rates comparable to those of C4 species on both an absolute basis and as a percentage of photosynthesis. At ambient CO2 there were strong linear relationships between photosynthesis, sugar synthesis, and concurrent export. However, at high CO2 the relationships between photosynthesis and export rate and between sugar synthesis and export rate were not as strong because sugars and starch were accumulated.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1998

Increasing plant productivity in closed environments with inner canopy illumination.

Due to the high cost of habitable real estate associated with space travel and colonization, and the ultimate use of plants as the primary method of life support, it is necessary to develop cultivation methods whereby the highest sustainable level of productivity is achieved within the least amount of space. It is well known that in a dense plant canopy, lower leaves become shaded from above and eventually no longer contribute to carbon gain. In fact, they contribute to net respiratory carbon losses. One method of improving biomass production is to introduce light of suitable quantity and quality to the inner canopy, thereby utilizing unused photosynthetic capacity. By coupling microwave-powered lights to 100-mm-diameter glass tubes lined with 3M Optical Lighting Film, light with a spectral quality similar to that of sunlight was delivered to the inner canopy of a developing soybean crop. Results indicated that increases in productivity of 23-87%, as measured by CO2 assimilation, can be achieved in dense plant canopies (LAI approximately 6) when overhead lighting (40O-1200 micromoles m-2 s-1) is supplemented with inner canopy illumination.

Biomass↗

PubMed1996

Plant responses to short- and long-term exposures to high carbon dioxide levels in closed environments.

When higher plants are exposed to elevated levels of CO2 for both short- and long-term periods photosynthetic C-gain and photoassimilate export from leaves are generally increased. Water use efficiency is increased on a leaf area basis. During long-term exposures, photosynthesis rates on leaf and whole plants bases are altered in a species specific manner. The most common pattern in C3 plants is an enhanced rate of whole plant photosynthesis in a well irradiated canopy. Nevertheless, in some herbaceous species prolonged exposure to high CO2 results in remobilization of nitrogenous reserves (i.e., leaf protein degradation) and reduced rates of mature leaf photosynthesis when assayed at ambient CO2 and O2 levels. Both short- and long-term exposures to those CO2 levels (i.e., 100 to 2,000 microliter l-1) which modify photosynthesis and export, also modify both endogenous ethylene gas (C2H4) release, and substrate, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC), saturated C2H4 release rates from irradiated leaves. Photosynthetically active canopy leaves contribute most of the C2H4 released from the canopy. Prolonged growth at high CO2 results in a persistent increase in the rate of endogenous C2H4 release from leaves which can, only in part, be attributed to the increase of the endogenous pools of C2H4 pathway intermediates (e.g., methionine, M-ACC, and ACC). The capacity for increasing the rate of C2H4 release in response to short-term exposures to varying CO2 levels does not decline after prolonged growth at high CO2. When leaves, whole plants, and model canopies of tomato plants are exposed to exogenous C2H4 a reduction in the rate of photosynthesis can, in each case, be attributed to the classical effects of C2H4 on plant development and morphology. The effect of C2H4 on CO2 gas exchange of plant canopies is shown to be dependent on the canopy leaf area index.

Carbon↗

PubMed1992

Sink to Source Transition in Tendrils of a Semileafless Mutant, Pisum sativum cv Curly.

Sink to source transition parallels loss of thigmotropic capacity in tendrils of a semileafless mutant, Pisum sativum cv Curly. Macroscopic tendril development is subdivided based on thigmotropic capacity. Stage I is the elongation stage and, although the rate of photosynthesis is similar to that of stage II and III tendrils, dark respiration rates are higher in stage I. During stage II, tendrils are thigmotropic and act as a sink. Even though stage II tendrils have CO(2) exchange characteristics similar to those of stage III tendrils, which are coiled, our fluorescein, (14)C-partitioning, and (11)C-translocation experiments suggest that stage I and II tendrils do not export carbon. Only stage III tendrils act as sources of newly fixed carbon. Export from them is blocked by cold, heat girdling of the petiole, or anoxia treatment of the tendrils. A late stage II tendril complex, in which coiling is occurring, may be exporting photoassimilates; however, this phenomenon can be attributed to the fact that the pea leaf is a compound structure and there may be one or more stage III tendrils, no longer thigmotropic, within the tendril complex. Photosynthetic maturity in pea tendrils occurs at stage III and is characterized by the ability of these tendrils to export photoassimilates.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1989

Whole Plant and Leaf Steady State Gas Exchange during Ethylene Exposure in Xanthium strumarium L.

The effects of ethylene evolved from ethephon on leaf and whole plant photosynthesis in Xanthium strumarium L. were examined. Ethylene-induced epinasty reduced light interception by the leaves of ethephon treated plants by up to 60%. Gas exchange values of individual, attached leaves under identical assay conditions were not inhibited even after 36 hours of ethylene exposure, although treated leaves required a longer induction period to achieve steady state photosynthesis. The speed of translocation of recently fixed (11)C-assimilate movement was not seriously impaired following ethephon treatment; however, a greater proportion of the assimilate was partitioned downward toward the roots. Within 24 hours of ethephon treatment, the whole plant net carbon exchange rate expressed on a per plant basis or a leaf area basis had dropped by 35%. The apparent inhibition of net carbon exchange rate was reversed by physically repositioning the leaves with respect to the light source. Ethylene exposure also inhibited expansion of young leaves which was partially reversed when the leaves were repositioned. The data indicated that ethylene indirectly affected net C gain and plant growth through modification of light interception and altered sink demand without directly inhibiting leaf photosynthesis.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1988

Whole Plant CO(2) Exchange Measurements for Nondestructive Estimation of Growth.

A computer controlled semiclosed net CO(2) exchange measurement system, employing an infrared gas analyzer and mass flow controllers to inject pure CO(2) at preset rates, has been developed for measuring whole plant net CO(2) exchange and net C gain in a controlled environment (i.e. CO(2), light, and temperature). Data for tomato (Lycoperscicon esculentum cv Campbell 19 VF) and rose (Rosa hybrida cv Samantha) plants grown for 4 and 17 day periods, respectively, clearly show that net C gain measured and computed using nondestructive CO(2) analysis equaled the increase in C content determined by chemical analysis following destruction of the test plants. The analysis of C gain based on CO(2) exchange allows estimation of biomass production and growth of a single population of plants under varying light and CO(2) conditions without physically handling the test plants.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1984

Acclimation to High CO(2) in Bean : Carbonic Anhydrase and Ribulose Bisphosphate Carboxylase.

Young bean plants (Phaseolus vulgaris L. cv Seafarer) grew faster in air enriched with CO(2) (1200 microliters per liter) than in ambient CO(2) (330 microliters per liter). However, by 7 days when increases in overall growth (dry weight, leaf area) were visible, there was a significant decline (about 25%) in the leaf mineral content (N, P, K, Ca, Mg) and a drop in the activity of two enzymes of carbon fixation, carbonic anhydrase and ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) carboxylase under high CO(2). Although the activity of neither enzyme was altered in young, expanding leaves during the acclimation period, in mature leaves the activity of carbonic anhydrase was reduced 95% compared with a decline of 50% in ambient CO(2). The drop in RuBP carboxylase was less extreme with 40% of the initial activity retained in the high CO(2) compared with 50% in the ambient atmosphere. While CO(2) enrichment might alter the flow of carbon into the glycolate pathway by modifying the activities of carbonic anhydrase or RuBP carboxylase, there is no early change in the ability of photosynthetic tissue to oxidize glycolate to CO(2).

Journal Article↗

PubMed1984

Effects of Glycolate Pathway Intermediates on Glycine Decarboxylation and Serine Synthesis in Pea (Pisum sativum L.).

Glycine decarboxylation and serine synthesis were studied in pea (Pisum sativum L.) leaf discs, in metabolically active intact chloroplasts, and in mitochondria isolated both partially by differential centrifugation (i.e. ;crude') and by further purification on a Percoll gradient. Glycolate, glyoxylate, and formate reduced glycine decarboxylase activity ((14)CO(2) and NH(3) release) in the crude green-colored mitochondrial fractions, and in the leaf discs without markedly altering serine synthesis from [1-(14)C]glycine. Glycolate acted because it was converted to glyoxylate which behaves as a noncompetitive inhibitor (K(i) = 5.1 +/- 0.5 millimolar) on the mitochondrial glycine decarboxylation reaction in both crude and Percoll-purified mitochondria. In contrast, formate facilitates glycine to serine conversion by a route which does not involve glycine breakdown in the crude mitochondrial fraction and leaf discs. Formate does not alter the conversion of two molecules of glycine to one CO(2), one NH(3), and one serine molecule in the Percoll-purified mitochondria. In chloroplasts which were unable to break glycine down to CO(2) and NH(3), serine was labeled equally from [(14)C]formate and [1-(14)C]glycine. The maximum rate of serine synthesis observed in chloroplasts is similar to that in isolated metabolically active mitochondria. Formate does not appear to be able to substitute for the one-carbon unit produced during mitochondrial glycine breakdown but can facilitate serine synthesis from glycine in a chloroplast reaction which is probably a secondary one in vivo.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1984

Enhancement of Ethylene Release from Leaf Tissue during Glycolate Decarboxylation : A Possible Role for Photorespiration.

When leaf discs of Xanthium strumarium L. and Salvia splendens L. are incubated in sealed flasks in the light, more C(2)H(4) gas is released in the presence of added CO(2) (30-200 millimolar NaHCO(3)) than without CO(2). In Salvia, the maximum rate of C(2)H(4) release occurs when sufficient CO(2) (above 125 millimolar NaHCO(3)) is added to saturate photosynthesis confirming previous studies. The maximum rate of C(2)H(4) release from illuminated discs is similar to the rate in the dark with or without CO(2) in both species. Glycolate enhances a CO(2)-dependent C(2)H(4) evolution from illuminated leaf discs. However, the maximum rate of C(2)H(4) release with glycolate is the same as that observed with saturating CO(2). When photosynthesis is inhibited by darkness or by 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea, glycolate has no effect.Studies with [2,3-(14)C]-1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) show that the pattern of C(2)H(4) release and the specific activity of the (14)C(2)H(4) in the presence and absence of glycolate is similar to that described above, indicating that glycolate does not alter uptake of the exogenously supplied precursor (ACC) or stimulate C(2)H(4) release from an endogenous source at appreciable rates. Glycolate oxidase in vitro generates H(2)O(2) which stimulates a slow breakdown of ACC to C(2)H(4), but since exogenous glycolate is oxidized to CO(2) in both the light and the dark it is argued that the glycolate-dependent increase in C(2)H(4) release from illuminated leaf discs is not mediated directly by the action of enzymes of glycolate catabolism. The effects of glycolate and CO(2) are not easily explained by changes in stomatal resistance. The data support the view that glycolate decarboxylation at subsaturating levels of CO(2) in the light stimulates C(2)H(4) release by raising the CO(2) level in the tissue.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1984

Effect of Oxygen Concentration on C-Photoassimilate Transport from Leaves of Salvia splendens L.

Partitioning and transport of recently fixed photosynthate was examined following (14)CO(2) pulse-labeling of intact, attached leaves of Salvia splendens L. maintained in an atmosphere of 300 microliters per liter CO(2) and 20, 210, or 500 milliliters per liter O(2). Under conditions of increasing O(2) (210, 500 milliliters per liter), a smaller percentage of the recently fixed (14)C in the leaf was allocated to starch, whereas a greater percentage of the fixed (14)C appeared in amino acids, particularly serine. The increase in (14)C in amino acids was reflected in material exported from source leaves. A higher percentage of (14)C in serine, glycine, and glutamate was recovered in petiole extracts when source leaves were maintained under elevated O(2) levels. Although pool sizes of these amino acids were increased in both the leaves and petioles with increasing photorespiratory activity, no significant changes in either (14)C distribution or concentration of transport sugars (i.e. stachyose, sucrose, verbascose) were observed. The data indicate that, in addition to being recycled intracellularly into Calvin cycle intermediates, amino acids produced during photorespiration may also serve as transport metabolites, allowing the mobilization of both carbon and nitrogen from the leaf under conditions of limited photosynthesis.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1983

Light Stimulation of Ethylene Release from Leaves of Gomphrena globosa L.

The effect of light and CO(2) on both the endogenous and 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC)-dependent ethylene evolution from metabolically active detached leaves and leaf discs of Gomphrena globosa L. is reported. Treatment with varying concentrations of ACC did not appear to inhibit photosynthesis, respiration, or stomatal behavior. In all treatments, more ethylene was released into a closed flask from ACC-treated tissue, but the pattern of ethylene release with respect to light/dark/CO(2) treatments was the same.Leaf tissue in the light with a source of CO(2) sufficient to maintain photosynthesis always generates 3 to 4 times more ethylene than tissue in the dark. Conversely, the lowest rate of ethylene release occurs when leaf tissue is illuminated and photosynthetic activity depletes the CO(2) to the compensation point. Ethylene release in the dark is also stimulated by CO(2) either added to the flask as bicarbonate or generated by dark respiration. Ethylene release increases dramatically and in parallel with photosynthesis at increasing light intensities in this C(4) plant. Ethylene release appears dependent on CO(2) both in the light and in the dark. Therefore, it is suggested that the important factor regulating the evolution of ethylene gas from leaves of Gomphrena may be CO(2) metabolism rather than light per se.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1983

Regulation of chloroplastic carbonic anhydrase : effect of magnesium.

It was previously reported that magnesium ion inhibited carbonic anhydrase (Bamberger and Avron 1975 Plant Physiol 56: 481-485). Studies with partially purified carbonic anhydrase from spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) chloroplasts show that the effect was the result of the chloride counterion and not the magnesium ion. Enzyme activity was reduced 50% upon addition of 3 to 10 millimolar MgCl(2) or KCl while all additions of MgSO(4) between 0.3 and 10 millimolar were mildly stimulatory.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1979

A Study of Formate Production and Oxidation in Leaf Peroxisomes during Photorespiration.

When glycolate was metabolized in peroxisomes isolated from leaves of spinach beet (Beta vulgaris L., var. vulgaris) formate was produced. Although the reaction mixture contained glutamate to facilitate conversion of glycolate to glycine, the rate at which H(2)O(2) became "available" during the oxidation of [1-(14)C]glycolate was sufficient to account for the breakdown of the intermediate [1-(14)C]glyoxylate to formate (C(1) unit) and (14)CO(2). Under aerobic conditions formate production closely paralleled (14)CO(2) release from [1-(14)C]glycolate which was optimal between pH 8.0 and pH 9.0 and was increased 3-fold when the temperature was raised from 25 to 35 C, or when the rate of H(2)O(2) production was increased artificially by addition of an active preparation of fungal glucose oxidase.When [(14)C]formate was added to these preparations it was oxidized directly to (14)CO(2) by the peroxidatic action of peroxisomal catalase; however, the breakdown of formate was slow relative to the rate of formate production. For example, when [(14)C]formate was generated from [2-(14)C]glycolate it was not readily oxidized to (14)CO(2) in these organelles. Because the activity of formate-NAD(+) dehydrogenase in cell-free leaf extracts was low compared with that of formyl tetrahydrofolate synthetase it is suggested that most of the formate produced during glycolate oxidation could be metabolized via the one carbon pool and not oxidized directly to CO(2).At 25 C the rate of release of (14)CO(2) from [2-(14)C]glycolate in leaf discs was 40 to 50% of the rate from [1-(14)C]glycolate. Isonicotinyl hydrazide inhibited (14)CO(2) release from both [1-(14)C]- and [2-(14)C]glycolate; but this inhibitor was more effective in blocking (14)CO(2) release from [2-(14)C]glycolate. It is argued that the oxidation of the methylene carbon group of glycolate does not occur as a direct consequence of formate (C(1) unit) breakdown, but is a product of the further metabolism of formate and glycine, possibly, via serine.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1976

Intracellular localization of glycolate dehydrogenase in a blue-green alga.

Glycolate dehydrogenase activity was detected in cell-free extracts of Oscillatoria sp. prepared by osmotic lysis of spheroplasts in 0.05 m potassium phosphate buffer, pH 7.5, containing 0.3 m mannitol. Most of the enzyme activity was found in a particulate fraction and localized in the photosynthetic lamellae after centrifugation in a discontinuous sucrose density gradient. Enzyme activity was detected in this fraction both in the presence and absence of the artificial electron acceptor 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol (DPIP) and a low rate of O(2) uptake was detected in this lamellar fraction. Activity was lost from the lamellar fraction by repeated washing or by treatment with 0.005% Triton X-100 and the solubilized enzyme activity was DPIP-dependent. The data indicate that both glycolate dehydrogenase and its natural electron acceptor are bound to the photosynthetic lamellae in vivo. In contrast, catalase activity was found in the soluble cytoplasmic fraction.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1974

A study of the control of glycolate excretion in chlorella.

Chlorella pyrenoidosa cells grown on 5% CO(2) excreted glycolate when incubated in light with 10 mm bicarbonate, but excreted no glycolate under the same conditions when they were maintained on air for 7 hours prior to the assay. Incubation of 5% CO(2)-grown and air-grown cells with 10 mm isonicotinyl hydrazide or 10 mm alpha-hydroxypyridinemethane sulfonate during the assay stimulated the excretion of glycolate by CO(2)-grown cells severalfold that of air-grown cells.Adaptation of CO(2)-grown Chlorella to growth on air did not affect the levels of glycolate dehydrogenase in the cells and did not affect the rate of dark oxidation and metabolism of exogeneous (14)C-glycolate by the cells. These results indicate that the lack of glycolate excretion by air-grown or air-adapted cells of Chlorella cannot be explained by a concomitant change in the level of glycolate dehydrogenase.

Journal Article↗