Photosynthetic acclimation during low-light-induced leaf senescence in post-anthesis maize plants

Low light conditions not only induce leaf senescence, but also photosynthetic acclimation. This study aimed to determine whether plants exhibit photosynthetic acclimation during low-light-induced leaf senescence. The influences of shading on leaf senescence and photosynthetic acclimation were explored in post-anthesis maize plants. The results showed that whole shading (WS) of maize plants accelerated leaf senescence, whereas partial shading (PS) slowed leaf senescence. WS led to larger decreases in the photosynthetic rate (P) and stomatal conductance (G) compared to those of the PS treatment. Interestingly, chlorophyll a fluorescence (ChlF) demonstrated that the absorption flux (ABS/CS) and trapped energy flux (TR/CS) per cross section in leaves remained relatively stable under WS, whereas significant decreases in the active PSII reaction centers (RC/CS) resulted in considerable increases in absorption (ABS/RC) and trapped energy flux (TR/RC) per reaction center. ABS/CS, TR/CS, ABS/RC, and TR/RC increased markedly under PS, whereas there were slight decreases in RC/CS and electron transport activity. These results suggest that the PS treatment resulted in obvious improvements in the absorption and capture of light energy in shaded leaves. Further analysis demonstrated that both the WS and PS treatments resulted in a greater decrease in the activity of Rubisco compared to that of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC). Moreover, PEPC activity in PS was maintained at a high level. Consequently, the current study proposed that the improvement of the absorption and capture of light energy and the maintenance of PEPC activity of mesophyll cells were due to photosynthetic acclimation of low-light-induced leaf senescence in maize plants. In addition, the rate of senescence of vascular bundle cells in maize leaves exceeded that of mesophyll cells under low light, showing obvious tissue specificity.