Rapid adjustment in chrysanthemum carbohydrate turnover and growth activity to a change in time-of-day application of light and daylength

Diel (24h) rhythms are believed to be of great importance to plant growth and carbohydrate metabolism in fluctuating environments. However, it is unclear how plants that have evolved to experience regular day-night patterns will respond to irregular light environments that disturb diurnally-regulated parameters related to growth. In this study, chrysanthemum plants were exposed to a change in the time-of-day application of light followed by short days or long days with a night interruption of light. We observed a clear shift in the diel cycle of sucrose turnover and relative leaf expansion, indicating a resetting of these activities with a temporal trigger in the early morning. The starch pool was relatively stable in long-day plants and marginally affected by the change in the time-of-day application in light followed by long days with a night interruption. This was in contrast with an onset of a daily starch turnover by a shift to short days. These results confirm findings from model species on the complex relationship between carbohydrate metabolism, source-sink relations and growth rate and they shed new light on the dynamic processes during acclimation towards altered environmental responses of plants in fluctuating environments.