Effects of instantaneous and growth CO2 levels and abscisic acid on stomatal and mesophyll conductances.

C3 photosynthesis is often limited by CO2 diffusivity or stomatal (gs ) and mesophyll (gm ) conductances. To characterize effects of stomatal closure induced by either high CO2 or abscisic acid (ABA) application on gm , we examined gs and gm in the wild type (Col-0) and ost1 and slac1-2 mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana grown at 390 or 780 μmol mol-1 CO2 . Stomata of these mutants were reported to be insensitive to both high CO2 and ABA. When the ambient CO2 increased instantaneously, gm decreased in all these plants, whereas gs in ost1 and slac1-2 was unchanged. Therefore, the decrease in gm in response to high CO2 occurred irrespective of the responses of gs . gm was mainly determined by the instantaneous CO2 concentration during the measurement and not markedly by the CO2 concentration during the growth. Exogenous application of ABA to Col-0 caused the decrease in the intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci ). With the decrease in Ci , gm did not increase but decreased, indicating that the response of gm to CO2 and that to ABA are differently regulated and that ABA content in the leaves plays an important role in the regulation of gm .