Low-temperature induced changes in the ultrastructure of maize mesophyll chloroplasts strongly depend on the chilling pattern/intensity and considerably differ among inbred and hybrid genotypes

Abstract

The ultrastructure and dimensions of chloroplasts in leaf mesophyll cells were quantitatively examined in three parental inbred lines of maize (Zea mays L.) and their four hybrids subjected to two types of four-week low-temperature (LT) treatment: the abrupt onset of chilling temperatures ("severe chilling", SC) and the gradual, more moderate one ("moderate chilling", MC). The relationship between the response of individual genotypes to one or the other type of chilling was analyzed as well as the possibility to predict the behaviour of chloroplasts in hybrids from that of their parents. Although selected parameters of chloroplast ultrastructure (e.g. volume densities of granal and intergranal thylakoids, plastoglobuli, and peripheral reticulum) and dimensions changed due to the exposure of maize plants to LT, no general pattern of such changes was found for this species due to the observed intraspecific variability. The response of some genotype to SC could not be predicted from its behaviour under MC (and vice versa) and no clear rules could be applied for the inheritance of chloroplast response to chilling in the general sense. Thus, great caution should be always taken when interpreting the results of studies aimed at the dissection of chloroplast ultrastructure as affected by LT, particularly in case such studies are made with one genotype or under one type of chilling only.

Genetic and Cytological Analysis of a Novel Type of Low Temperature-Dependent Intrasubspecific Hybrid Weakness in Rice

“…Low temperature significantly influences chloroplast development and chlorophyll biosynthesis [40], and the granal thylakoids were usually affected more than the intergranal ones under chilling temperature [41]. On the other hand, the mitochondria in the soybean axes were slightly diminished, and lacked internal structure at low temperatures [42].…”

The influence of low temperature on photosynthesis and antioxidant enzymes in sensitive banana and tolerant plantain (Musa sp.) cultivars

“…D1-protein degradation, damage to construction of thylakoid membrane and inhibition of the photochemical activity of chloroplasts etc. (Havaux et al 1984, Pinedo et al 2000, Holá et al 2008. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are known to be generated in plant cells even during normal metabolic process, such as photosynthesis and respiration ( Apel and Hirt 2004).…”

Stereology, an Unbiased Methodological Approach to Study Plant Anatomy and Cytology: Past, Present and Future

“…Volume densities of thylakoids, starch, plastoglobuli and stroma inside chloroplasts were estimated by measuring the corresponding areas using the pointcounting method (Kutík et al, 1995;Miroslavov et al, 1996;Fagerberg and Bornman, 1997;Razem and Davis, 1999;Vassilyev, 2000;Wheeler and Fagerberg, 2000;Griffin et al, 2001;Gabarayeva and Grigorjeva, 2002;Pechová et al, 2003;Vičánková and Kutík, 2005;Gregoriou et al, 2007;Kubínová and Kutík, 2007;Holá et al, 2008, Mašková et al 2017.…”