Adaptive reactions of the pigment system in assimilating shoots of evergreen dwarf shrub Ephedra monosperma J.G. Gmel. ex C.A. Mey. were studied under natural conditions of Central Yakutia. Seasonal changes in the content and ratio of green and yellow pigments were revealed; their relation to the stage of plant development and formation of cold tolerance was shown. The decrease in chlorophyll content started in September when the natural photoperiod became shorter and the air temperature lower; the chlorophyll concentration in winter was 30% lower than in summer. The content of β-carotene decreased twofold. The xanthophyll cycle pigments increased in content and deepoxidation level by a factor of 1.7 and 3.6, respectively. In peripheral cells of assimilating parenchyma, accumulation of a secondary carotenoid, rhodoxanthin was noted. In the period of active plant growth (from June to August), rhodoxanthin was absent, while its concentration in shoots in winter was 75 μg/g dry wt. It is concluded that changes in the pigment pool reflect structural and functional reorganization of photosynthetic machinery and are an indispensable part of the intricate process of plant hardening. Activation of energy-dissipating and antioxidant pigment systems, together with accumulation of the light-screening secondary carotenoid rhodoxanthin, promote the retention of photosynthetic apparatus and the survival of Ephedra monosperma plants under extreme conditions of cryolithozone of Yakutia.

The methods of chlorophyll fluorescence induction and HPLC were used to study the influence of autumnal temperature decrease on photochemical electron-transport activity of photosystem II (PSII),...

Dissipation of light energy absorbed by photosystem II (PSII) in assimilating shoots of an evergreen shrub Ephedra monosperma was investigated during its transition from the vegetative to frost-tolerant state under natural conditions of Central Yakutia. The dynamics of modulated chlorophyll fluorescence and carotenoid content was analyzed during seasonal decrease in ambient temperature. The seasonal cooling was accompanied by a stepwise decrease in photochemical activity of PSII (F _v/F _m = (F _m − F ₀)/F _m). The decrease in F _v/F _m occurred from the beginning of September to the end of October, when the temperature was lowered from 10 to −8°C. During winter period the residual activity of PSII was retained at about 30% of the summer values. The seasonal decrease in temperature was accompanied by a significant stimulation of pH-independent dissipative processes in reaction centers and antenna of PSII. The increase in energy losses was paralleled by a proportional increase in zeaxanthin content on the background of decreasing content of violaxanthin and β-carotene as possible zeaxanthin precursors. At the same time, inhibition of light-induced non-photochemical quenching in the PSII antenna was observed. The results suggest that principal photoprotective mechanisms during seasonal lowering of temperature are: (1) inactivation of PSII and dissipation of excitation energy in PSII reaction centers and (2) zeaxanthin-mediated energy dissipation in the antenna complexes. The first mechanism seems to prevail at early stages of seasonal cooling, whereas both mechanisms are recruited from the onset of sustained freezing temperatures.

Lipids are the fundamental components of cell membranes and they play a significant role in their integrity and fluidity. The alteration in lipid composition of membranes has been reported to be a major response to abiotic environmental stresses. Seasonal dynamics of membrane lipids in the shoots of Ephedra monosperma J.G. Gmel. ex C.A. Mey. growing in natural conditions of permafrost ecosystems was studied using HPTLC, GC-MS and ESI-MS. An important role of lipid metabolism was established during the autumn-winter period when the shoots of the evergreen shrub were exposed to low positive (3.6 °C), negative (−8.3 °C) and extremely low temperatures (−38.4 °C). Maximum accumulation of phosphatidic acid (PA), the amount of which is times times greater than the sum of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine (PC + PE) was noted in shoots of E. monosperma in the summer-autumn period. The autumn hardening period (3.6 °C) is accompanied by active biosynthesis and accumulation of membrane lipids, a decrease of saturated 34:1 PCs, 34:1 PEs and 34:1 PAs, and an increase in unsaturated long-chain 38:5 PEs, 38:6 PEs, indicating that the adaptation of E. monosperma occurs not at the level of lipid classes but at the level of molecular species. At a further decrease of average daily air temperature in October (−8.3 °C) a sharp decline of PA level was registered. At an extreme reduction of environmental temperature (−38.4 °C) the content of non-bilayer PE and PA increases, the level of unsaturated fatty acids (FA) rises due to the increase of C18:2(Δ9,12) and C18:3(Δ9,12,15) acids and the decrease of C16:0 acids. It is concluded that changes in lipid metabolism reflect structural and functional reorganization of cell membranes and are an integral component of the complex process of plant hardening to low temperatures, which contributes to the survival of E. monosperma monocotyledonous plants in the extreme conditions of the Yakutia cryolithozone.

Seasonal changes in the content of photosynthetic pigments and their ratio were studied in perennial gramineous (Psathyrostachys juncea Tzvel., Elymus sibiricus L., Bromopsis inermis Leys) and equiset