The sun-exposed peel of apple fruit has a higher photosynthetic capacity than the shaded peel

Abstract

To determine whether the sun-exposed peel of apple fruit has a higher photosynthetic capacity than the shaded peel, fruit peel samples were taken in both early July and early September from the exterior part of the canopy of mature ‘Liberty’/M.9 trees for measuring oxygen evolution, key enzymes and metabolites involved in photosynthesis, and chlorophyll fluorescence. Compared with the shaded peel, the sun-exposed peel had higher light-saturated oxygen evolution rate and higher light saturation point, but lower apparent and true quantum yields. The activity of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, phosphoribulokinase, stromal fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase, ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase and sucrose-phosphate synthase (SPS) were higher in the sun-exposed peel than in the shaded peel on both sampling dates except that no significant difference was found in SPS activity between the two peel types in September. No significant difference was detected in the concentration of key metabolites (G6P, F6P, G1P, and PGA) between the sun-exposed peel and the shaded peel, suggesting that the response of the key enzymes to light exposure is well coordinated. Chlorophyll fluorescence quenching analysis showed that the sun-exposed peel had higher PSII quantum efficiency than the shaded peel at each given PFD, which resulted mainly from the higher photochemical quenching coefficient (qP). The sun-exposed peel had higher thermal dissipation capacity, as indicated by larger NPQ and Fo quenching, than the shaded peel at high PFD. In conclusion, the sun-exposed peel of apple fruit has higher activities of the Calvin cycle enzymes and higher rate of electron transport, leading to higher photosynthetic O2 evolution capacity. It appears that the acclimation of the Calvin cycle activities, thermal dissipation, and electron transport in apple peel are well coordinated in response to light exposure.