Photosynthetic Characteristics of Flag Leaves in Rice White Stripe Mutant 6001 During Senescence Process

Physiological, biochemical and electron microscopy analyses were used to investigate the photosynthetic performance of flag leaves in rice white stripe mutant 6001 during the senescence process. Results showed that the chlorophyll content at the heading and milk-ripe stages in rice mutant 6001 were about 34.78% and 3.00% less than those in wild type 6028, respectively. However, the chlorophyll content at the fully-ripe stage in rice mutant 6001 was higher than that in wild type 6028. At the heading stage, the net photosynthetic rate (P_n) in rice mutant 6001 was lower than that in wild type 6028. Rice mutant 6001 also exhibited a significantly slower decrease rate of P_n than wild type 6028 during the senescence progress, especially at the later stage. Furthermore, Ca²⁺-ATPase, Mg²⁺-ATPase and photophosphorylation activities exhibited the similar trends as the P_n. During the senescence process, the 68 kDa polypeptide concentrations in the thylakoid membrane proteins exhibited a significant change, which was one of the critical factors that contributed to the observed change in photosynthesis. We also observed that the chloroplasts of rice mutant 6001 exhibited higher integrity than those of wild type 6028, and the chloroplast membrane of rice mutant 6001 disintegrated more slow during the senescence process. In general, rice mutant 6001 had a relatively slower senescence rate than wild type 6028, and exhibited anti-senescence properties.