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Water-use efficiency in Flaveria species under drought-stress conditions

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Photosynthetica

Abstract

Environmental conditions that promote photorespiration are considered to be a major driving force for the evolution of C4 species from C3 ancestors. The genus Flaveria contains C3 and C4 species as well as a variety of intermediate species. In this study, we compare the water-use efficiency of intermediate Flaveria species to that of C3 and C4 species. The results indicate that under both well-watered and a drought-stress condition, C3–C4 and C4-like intermediacy in Flaveria species improve water-use efficiency as compared to C3 species.

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Abbreviations

DS:

drought stress

PEPCase:

phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase

Rubisco:

ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase

WUE:

water-use efficiency

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Acknowledgement

This work was supported by Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT): grant reference SFRH/BPD/41700/2007.

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Correspondence to M. C. Dias.

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Dias, M.C., Brüggemann, W. Water-use efficiency in Flaveria species under drought-stress conditions. Photosynthetica 48, 469–473 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11099-010-0061-0

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