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The role of Ca2+, H+, and Cl− ions in generation of variation potential in pumpkin plants

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Abstract

The contributions of Ca2+, H+, and Cl− in generation of variation potentials (VP) in 3- to 4-week-old pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L., cv. Mozoleevskaya) plants were assessed. During VP generation, transient alkalinization of the medium around the stem was recorded with a potentiometric method. The pH changes were kinetically similar to the electric potential changes and were apparently due to temporal suppression of the plasma-membrane electrogenic H+ pump. These data and the observed inhibition of VP in the stem zone treated locally with a metabolic inhibitor (NaN3) indicate that the VP generation is related to the reversible suppression of the H+-pump. The anion channel blocker (ethacrynic acid) decelerated significantly the front slope of VP and reduced the VP amplitude. A short-term increase in external Cl− concentration around the stem was observed during potential transients representing the VP front slope and the pulses integrated into VP. The removal of Ca2+ from extracellular medium inhibited the VP generation. It is proposed that Ca2+ plays a role in activation of anion channels and in the H+-pump inactivation. The VP generation is probably determined by a complex mechanism, with contributions from passive ion fluxes (Ca2+, Cl−) moving along the electrochemical gradients and from changes in the electrogenic pump activity.

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Abbreviations

AP:

action potential

VP:

variation potential

ΔU:

potential difference

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biophysics, Faculty of Biology, Nizhni Novgorod State University, GSP-20, pr. Gagarina 23, Nizhni Novgorod, 603950, Russia

    V. A. Vodeneev, E. K. Akinchits, L. A. Orlova & V. S. Sukhov

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  1. V. A. Vodeneev
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  2. E. K. Akinchits
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  3. L. A. Orlova
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  4. V. S. Sukhov
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Correspondence to V. A. Vodeneev.

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Original Russian Text © V.A. Vodeneev, E.K. Akinchits, L.A. Orlova, V.S. Sukhov, 2011, published in Fiziologiya Rastenii, 2011, Vol. 58, No. 6, pp. 826–833.

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Vodeneev, V.A., Akinchits, E.K., Orlova, L.A. et al. The role of Ca2+, H+, and Cl− ions in generation of variation potential in pumpkin plants. Russ J Plant Physiol 58, 974–981 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1021443711050256

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1021443711050256

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