PREMISE OF THE STUDY Portulacaceae is a family with a remarkable diversity in photosynthetic pathways. This lineage not only has species with different C4 biochemistry (NADP-ME and NAD-ME types) and C3-C4 intermediacy, but also displays different leaf anatomical configurations. Here we addressed the evolutionary history of leaf anatomy and photosynthetic pathways in Portulacaceae. METHODS Pho...

The biochemical and physiological characteristics of C4 photosynthesis have been researched and clarified in detail. We now know that the differentiation of two cell types, mesophyll cells (MC) and bundle sheath cells (BSC), is required for efficient C4 photosynthesis. Thus, the leaves of C4 plants have more complicated structural and functional features than those of C3 plants (Hatch, 1999; Ka...

The photosynthetic efficiency of C3 grasses declines with increasing temperature and C4 grasses are predicted to be advantaged at temperatures above 15 °C. We demonstrated an above-ground productivity difference in a commongarden experiment with Alloteropsis semialata and show that it is related more to differences in life-history than to photosynthesis. Frost caused leaf mortality in the C4 bu...

Soil and water salinity substantially constrain crop and biomass production. To investigate the changes in morphological parameters of lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum) cultivars under CaCl2 salinity conditions a greenhouse experiment was conducted. Cultivars namely, ‘Champagne’ (C1), ‘Lime Green’ (C2), ‘Blue Picotee’ (C3) and ‘Pure White’ (C4), were subjected to salt stress (0–30 mM CaCl2) in ...

The North American tallgrass prairie is composed of a diverse mix of C3 and C4 plant species that are subject to multiple resource limitations. C4 rasses dominate this ecosystem, purportedly due to greater photosynthetic capacity and resource-use efficiency associated with C4 photosynthesis. e tested the hypothesis that intrinsic physiological differences between C3 and C4 species are consisten...

C4 photosynthesis has independently evolved from the ancestral C3 pathway in at least 60 plant lineages, but, as with other complex traits, how it evolved is unclear. Here we show that the polyphyletic appearance of C4 photosynthesis is associated with diverse and flexible evolutionary paths that group into four major trajectories. We conducted a meta-analysis of 18 lineages containing species ...

The biochemical and physiological characteristics of C4 photosynthesis have been researched and clarified in detail. We now know that the differentiation of two cell types, mesophyll cells (MC) and bundle sheath cells (BSC), is required for efficient C4 photosynthesis. Thus, the leaves of C4 plants have more complicated structural and functional features than those of C3 plants (Hatch, 1999; Ka...

The distribution of C3 and C4 plants changed in regionally contrasting ways during the last glacial period. C4 plant expansion in low-latitude Africa and America coincided with C4 plant decreases in Mesoamerica and the US Great Plains. This C4 plant expansion has been attributed to lower pCO2 and increased aridity and the decline in C4 plants is believed to have been caused by increased winter ...