Biochemical features of chloroplasts isolated from hemiparasitic angiosperms
1991
Tuquet, C. (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris (France). Laboratoire de Biologie Vegetale) | Salle, G. (Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris (France). Laboratoire de Cytologie Experimentale et Morphogenese Vegetale)
The witchweed Striga hermonthica (Del.) Benth. (Scrophulariaceae) is a root parasite causing dramatic losses in field-grown cereals in semi arid tropics. The mistletoes Viscum album L. (Viscaceae) and Tapinanthus dodoneifolius (DC). Danser (Loranthaceae) are tree parasites in temperate regions and in Western Africa, respectively, decreasing the production of trees. Studies concerning hemiparasitic plants have shown that they contain chlorophyll and are capable of independent photosynthesis. However, the rates of photosynthesis measured on whole plants were always low. To determine if any deficiency occurring in the photosynthetic apparatus could account for the low rates of photosynthesis, chloroplasts were isolated from the green leafy hemiparasitic flowering plants S. hermonthica parasitizing sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench, cv. Tiemarifing] grown under greenhouse conditions or in their natural surroundings and V. album and T. dodoneifolius collected in their natural surroundings. Isolated chloroplasts exhibited the characteristics of chloroplasts from C3 plants but displayed low of chlorophyll and polar lipids. Changes occurred in polar lipid composition of chloroplasts from plants originating from semi arid tropics with increases in phospholipids at the expense of galactolipids. On a chlorophyll basis, chloroplasts from S. hermonthica plants exhibited better photosynthetic activities than mistleote chloroplasts which showed dramatic decreases in photosystem I activity
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