Exogenous Abscisic Acid Can Influence Photosynthetic Processes in Peas through a Decrease in Activity of H(+)-ATP-ase in the Plasma Membrane

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Numerous stressors (drought, low and high temperatures, mechanical damages, etc.) act on plants under environmental conditions, suppressing their physiological processes (in particular, photosynthesis). Abscisic acid (ABA) is an important hormone, which participates in increasing plant tolerance to the action of stressors; as a result, treatment by exogenous ABA is a perspective way of regulating the tolerance in agriculture. We investigated the influence of ABA spraying on photosynthetic processes, as well as on their heat tolerance and their regulation by electrical signals propagating after local burning and modifying photosynthesis. It was shown that ABA spraying decreased photosynthetic activity and increased photosynthetic heat tolerance; additionally, the ABA treatment weakened the influence of electrical signals on photosynthesis. We revealed that these responses could be caused by a decrease in activity of H(+)-ATP-ase, which is an important ion transporter in plant cell plasma membrane that supports efflux of H(+) from cytoplasm. As a whole, our results show the potential influence of the ABA treatment on photosynthetic processes, which is related to a decrease in activity of H(+)-ATP-ase. The result can be potentially useful for development of new methods of management of plant tolerance in agriculture. ABSTRACT: Abscisic acid (ABA) is an important hormone in plants that participates in their acclimation to the action of stressors. Treatment by exogenous ABA and its synthetic analogs are a potential way of controlling the tolerance of agricultural plants; however, the mechanisms of influence of the ABA treatment on photosynthetic processes require further investigations. The aim of our work was to investigate the participation of inactivation of the plasma membrane H(+)-ATP-ase on the influence of ABA treatment on photosynthetic processes and their regulation by electrical signals in peas. The ABA treatment of seedlings was performed by spraying them with aqueous solutions (10(−5) M). The combination of a Dual-PAM-100 PAM fluorometer and GFS-3000 infrared gas analyzer was used for photosynthetic measurements; the patch clamp system on the basis of a SliceScope Pro 2000 microscope was used for measurements of electrical activity. It was shown that the ABA treatment stimulated the cyclic electron flow around photosystem I and decreased the photosynthetic CO(2) assimilation, the amplitude of burning-induced electrical signals (variation potentials), and the magnitude of photosynthetic responses relating to these signals; in contrast, treatment with exogenous ABA increased the heat tolerance of photosynthesis. An investigation of the influence of ABA treatment on the metabolic component of the resting potential showed that this treatment decreased the activity of the H(+)-ATP-ase in the plasma membrane. Inhibitor analysis using sodium orthovanadate demonstrated that this decrease may be a mechanism of the ABA treatment-induced changes in photosynthetic processes, their heat tolerance, and regulation by electrical signals.