[Effects of water deficiency on mitochondrial functions and polymorphism of respiratory enzymes in plants]

In plants, adaptive-compensatory responses to stress always entail additional energy expenditure. A suggestion was brought forward that in plants growing under conditions of water stress there is a relationship between genetic variability of respiratory enzymes and their functional significance. With Kochia prostrate (L.) Schrad. as a case study, intraspecies genetic polymorphism under the conditions of drought has been analyzed using typical protein markers which, considering their functional importance, can be viewed as respiratory enzymes. Out of eight protein markers examined, four enzymes were singled out for which dominating combination of genotypes Dia B (a), G6pd (a), Gdh (c), and Mdh A (a) was incidental. In all populations from arid and semiarid zone, these genotypes frequency of occurrence was in the range of 0.53-1.0, i.e., it comprised more than 50% of the whole variety of combinations. Thus, it seems plausible that this combination of genotypes can be an "adaptive collection" for K. prostrata populations growing in arid habitats. A characteristic feature of the picked out enzymes is their belonging to NAD(P)(+)-depending oxidoreductases that play a key role in functioning and redox-regulation of respiratory metabolism in course of adapting to water deficiency. It is suggested that the presence of such well-balanced co-adaptive genotype combinations, that provide enzymes important in terms of energetics, determine the formation of energetic and redox-balances during the process of adaptation to water stress.