ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Physiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1536703
Efficient photosynthesis and economic water use of citrus leaves depend on hybrid, cultivar and leaf type
Provisionally accepted
- Southwest University, Chongqing, China
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Efficient photosynthesis and economic water use are essential for citrus growth, development and fruit production. The present study was aimed to characterize these processes in currentyear spring, autumn, summer and spring shoots of citrus hybrid OP with cultivars 'Orah' (OR) and 'Ponkan' (PO) and citrus hybrid NT with cultivars 'Newhall navel orange' (NO) and 'Tarocco' (TA). Cultivars NO and PO show mid-fruit ripening, and cultivars TA and OR latefruit ripening under field conditions. To characterize photosynthesis and water use, CO2 and H2O gas exchange, water use efficiency and expression of related genes were analyzed. The CO2 and H2O gas exchange parameters measured were determined by hybrid, cultivar and leaf type. Genes involved in lipid and pectin catabolic processes, cell wall biogenesis and modification, carbohydrate and xyloglucan metabolism, cellulose biosynthesis and cell growth were significantly upregulated in current-year spring shoots compared to the other leaf types investigated. Expression of photosynthesis-and transpiration-related genes was significantly enhanced in leaves of late-ripening cultivar OR compared to the other cultivars. These results indicate that the two hybrids of the four citrus cultivars studied differ in the expression of photosynthesis-and transpiration-related genes, but these differences cannot be attributed to fruit maturation.
Keywords: Citrus hybrid, Cultivar, Gene Expression, Leaf type, Photosynthesis, Water use efficiency, Stomatal conductance, transpiration
Received: 29 Nov 2024; Accepted: 18 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhao, Liu, Hu, Shilai, Zhang, Bin, Shi and Rennenberg. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Hu Bin, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
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