Light and dark CO fixation in Clusia uvitana and the effects of plant water status and CO availability.

In well-watered plants of Clusia uvitana, a species capable of carbon fixation by crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM), recently expanded leaves gained 5 to 13-fold more carbon during 12 h light than during 12 h dark periods. When water was withheld from the plants, daytime net CO uptake strongly decreased over a period of several days, whereas there was a marked increase in nocturnal carbon gain. Photosynthetic rates in the chloroplasts were hardly affected by the water stress treatment, as demonstrated by measurements of chlorophyll a fluorescence of intact leaves, indicating efficient decarboxylation of organic acids and refixation of carbon in the light. Within a few days after rewatering, plants reverted to the original gas exchange pattern with net CO uptake predominantly occurring during daytime. The reversible increase in dark CO fixation was paralleled by a reversible increase in the content of phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) carboxylase protein. In wellwatered plants, short-term changes in the degree of dark CO fixation were induced by alterations in CO partial pressure during light periods: a decrease from 350 to 170 μbar CO caused nocturnal carbon gain, measured in normal air (350 μbar), to increase, whereas an increase to 700 μbar CO, during the day, caused net dark CO fixation to cease. The increased CAM activity in response to water shortage may, at least to some extent, be directly related to the reduced carbon gain during daytime.