Probing the Mechanisms of the Yellow Vine Syndrome Development in the American Cranberry: Shade Effect

Abstract

Yellow vine symptoms are often observed in cranberry bogs. To explore the mechanisms of the formation of yellow vine syndrome in cranberry leaves, the shade effect on the chlorophyll (Chl) content and photosynthetic activities in cranberry bogs were investigated by spectrometric, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and in vivo Chl fluorescence kinetics. Spectrometric and HPLC analyses revealed that the yellow vine leaves were associated with a 11% ± 5% and 14% ± 5% increase in Chl a/ Chl b ratio after shading, respectively. The Chl a/Chl b ratio was the same in both types of leaves, suggesting the photosystem (PS) II organization remains invariant. The rise in chlorophyll content suggested that the number of reaction sites on PS II is increased in the shaded yellow vine leaves. The results of in vivo chlorophyll fluorescence analysis also indicated that the electron transport chain in the PS II is enhanced and that the size of the quinone pool is increased. In addition, the overall photosynthesis index is drastically improved by shading. These three lines of evidence imply that the shading of cranberry plants appeared to reduce the syndrome by improving the photosynthetic activity and increasing the chlorophyll content. The techniques presented here may be valuable for characterizing variations of plants by stress or disease.

Photosynthesis and Yellow Vine Syndrome of American Cranberry

“…Similar behavior was observed in Camellia leaves with development of an energy pipeline model of the photosynthetic apparatus [51,52]. In addition, the "Area" above the fluorescence transient for the shaded sample was also increased drastically, indicating the presence of a larger quinone pool [34,53]. To clarify the discrepancy between the chlorophyll fluorescence assay and chlorophyll determination by the spectrometric and HPLC method, a three-week chlorophyll fluorescence experiment was conducted.…”

“…The chlorophyll content of the yellow vine samples in the absence and presence of shade was determined by spectrometric analysis (Table 1). Shading increased Chl a and Chl b content by 11.1% and 13.9%, respectively [34]. HPLC analysis of shaded and unshaded yellow vine leaves using a C18 column with a photodiode array detector, following published procedures, was conducted and confirmed the spectrometric data.…”

“…This indicated the partial recovery of yellow vine syndrome under shade and enhancement of the capability to respond to the stress. As the PS II is the main target of photoinhibition, the decrease in PS II activity suggested a possible role of photoinhibition associated with the yellow vine syndrome in cranberry plants [34]. However, the data cannot rule out the involvement of other outcomes of shading.…”

“…Table 1. Analytical results of Chl a, Chl b, and the Chl a/Chl b ratio in the methanol extracts of yellow vine samples in the absence and presence of shade [34].…”

A Significant Loss in Photosynthetic Activity Associated with the Yellow Vine Syndrome of Cranberry

“…It is hypothesized that the yellow vine symptoms may be caused by nutritional imbalance and water stress (DeMoranville et al, 2009). The effect of shade treatment on yellow vine syndrome in cranberry bogs revealed that the shading of cranberry plants appears to reduce the syndrome by improving the photosynthetic activity and increasing the Chl content (Wei et al, 2010). The yellow vine leaves were associated with 11% ± 5% and 14% ± 5% increase in Chl a/Chl b ratio after shading, respectively.…”