Operating at the very low end of the crassulacean-acid- metabolism (CAM) spectrum: Sesuvium portulacastrum (Aizoaceae).

Demonstration of CAM in species with low CAM-usage relative to C3-photosynthetic CO2 assimilation can be challenging experimentally but provides crucial information on the early steps of CAM evolution. Weakly-expressed CAM was detected in the well-known pantropical coastal, leaf-succulent herb Sesuvium portulacastrum (L.) L., demonstrating that CAM is present in the Sesuvioideae, the only sub-family of the Aizoaceae in which CAM had not yet been shown conclusively. In outdoor plots in Panama, leaves and stems of S. portulacastrum consistently exhibited a small degree of nocturnal acidification which, in leaves, increased during the dry season. In potted plants, nocturnal acidification was mainly facultative, as levels of acidification increased in a reversible manner following the imposition of short-term water-stress. In drought-stressed plants, nocturnal net-CO2 exchange approached the CO2-compensation point, consistent with low rates of CO2-dark fixation sufficient to eliminate respiratory carbon loss. Detection of low-level CAM in S. portulacastrum adds to the growing number of species that cannot be considered C3 plants sensu stricto, although they obtain CO2 principally via the C3-pathway. Knowledge about the presence/absence of low-level CAM is critical when assessing trajectories of CAM evolution in lineages. The genus Sesuvium is of particular interest because it also contains C4 species.