title: Modelling the relationship between CO2 assimilation and leaf anatomical properties in tomato leaves.
abstract: The CO2 concentration near Rubisco and, therefore, the rate of CO2 assimilation, is influenced by both leaf anatomical factors and biochemical processes. Leaf anatomical structures act as physical barriers for CO2 transport. Biochemical processes add or remove CO2 along its diffusion pathway through mesophyll. We combined a model that quantifies the diffusive resistance for CO2 using anatomical properties, a model that partitions this resistance and an extended version of the Farquhar-von Caemmerer-Berry model. We parametrized the model by gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence and leaf anatomical measurements from three tomato cultivars. There was generally a good agreement between the predicted and measured light and CO2 response curves. We did a sensitivity analysis to assess how the rate of CO2 assimilation responds to changes in various leaf anatomical properties. Next, we conducted a similar analysis for assumed diffusive properties and curvature factors. Some variables (diffusion pathway length in stroma, diffusion coefficient of the stroma, curvature factors) substantially affected the predicted CO2 assimilation. We recommend more research on the measurements of these variables and on the development of 2-D and 3-D gas diffusion models, since these do not require the diffusion pathway length in the stroma as predefined parameter.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Crop Systems Analysis-Wageningen University and Research Centre, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands; Flanders Center of Postharvest Technology/BIOSYST-MeBioS, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Willem de Croylaan 42, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address: herman.berghuijs@wur.nl.
authors.forename: Herman N C
authors.initials: HN
authors.lastname: Berghuijs
authors.affiliation: Centre for Crop Systems Analysis-Wageningen University and Research Centre, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Xinyou
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Flanders Center of Postharvest Technology/BIOSYST-MeBioS, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Willem de Croylaan 42, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Q Tri
authors.initials: QT
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.affiliation: Centre for Crop Systems Analysis-Wageningen University and Research Centre, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Peter E L
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: van der Putten
authors.affiliation: Flanders Center of Postharvest Technology/BIOSYST-MeBioS, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Willem de Croylaan 42, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Pieter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Verboven
authors.affiliation: Centre for Crop Systems Analysis-Wageningen University and Research Centre, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands; Flanders Center of Postharvest Technology/BIOSYST-MeBioS, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Willem de Croylaan 42, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Moges A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Retta
authors.affiliation: Flanders Center of Postharvest Technology/BIOSYST-MeBioS, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Willem de Croylaan 42, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Bart M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Nicolaï
authors.affiliation: Centre for Crop Systems Analysis-Wageningen University and Research Centre, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Paul C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Struik
mesh_terms: D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D002736:Chloroplasts / Q000378:metabolism / Q000528:radiation effects / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008027:Light; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000528:radiation effects* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008954:Models, Biological; D010788:Photosynthesis / Q000528:radiation effects; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000528:radiation effects
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide
keywords: C(3); Diffusion; Leaf anatomy; Mesophyll conductance; Mesophyll resistance; Photosynthesis