Photoacoustic characteristics of leaves of atrazine-resistant weed mutants.

The photosynthetic characteristics of leaves of atrazine-resistant and-susceptible biotypes of several weed species (Solanum nigrum, Senecio vulgaris, Epilobium ciliatum and Chenopodium album) were compared using the photoacoustic method. Analysis of the dependence of the photoacoustic signal of the modulation frequency indicated that, in Solanum, Epilobium and Senecio, the relative quantum yield of O2 evolution ϕ (estimated by the ratio of the amplitude of the O2 signal, AOX, to that of the photothermal signal, APT) was substantially reduced in the atrazine-resistant mutant, without any changes in the O2 diffusion characteristics of the leaves. In contrast, in Chenopodium, atrazine-resistance was associated with a concomitant change in ϕ and in the leaf diffusion parameters. This latter change suggests that the leaf internal anatomy was modified in the resistant Chenopodium. Measurements of the Emerson enhancement indicated that the reduction of ϕ observed in the atrazine-resistant mutants was caused by a marked decrease in the photochemical potential of PS II (β). The study of the light intensity dependence of the AOX/APT ratio showed that saturation of O2 evolution occurred at the same light level (around 2000 μmol m(-2) s(-1)) in both types of plants. However, the relative maximal rate of O2 evolution was slightly lower (-10%) in the atrazine-resistant biotype as compared to the wild type. Reduced ϕ and light-saturated rate of O2 evolution were also measured in atrazine-resistant weed biotypes using a conventional Clark-type O2 electrode.