Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:30:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-08-26Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:39:55Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 hiraki_ss_me_ilha.pdf: 634960 bytes, checksum: 322c05fc858e94a98f166f9c7a604bc8 (MD5) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / O pinhão-manso (Jatropha curcas L.) é uma planta conhecida e cultivada na América desde tempos remotos, porém, somente nas últimas três décadas passou a ser estudado agronomicamente. É considerada uma espécie promissora no processo de produção de biocombustíveis devido ao seu elevado teor de óleo nas sementes. Por tratar-se de uma planta ainda em fase de domesticação, os estudos acerca de seu crescimento e fisiologia ainda são escassos, porém necessários para a expansão da cultura em todo o país, por isso, o objetivo desta pesquisa foi analisar o crescimento e o metabolismo do nitrogênio de plantas jovens de J. curcas cultivadas sob quatro condições de sombreamento (0, 30, 50 e 70 % de cobertura) e quatro concentrações de nitrato (0, 15, 30 e 45 mM). Durante 120 dias as plantas foram tratadas e avaliadas biometricamente quanto à altura, diâmetro, número de folhas, área foliar e massas fresca e seca. Fisiologicamente analisou-se a atividade das enzimas redutase do nitrato e glutamina sintetase, proteína total solúvel, análise quantitativa de nitrato e amônia. Os resultados obtidos sugerem que com relação ao crescimento inicial J. curcas é responsiva ao sombreamento, como características ecofisiológicas que se refletem em adaptações morfológicas de expansão da área foliar, alongamento do pecíolo e maior crescimento em altura buscando ambientes com maior luminosidade, sendo que ambientes com sombreamento de 30% são eficazes no controle da temperatura foliar e retenção de água no substrato permitindo o melhor desenvolvimento das plantas, entretanto, níveis acima de 50% de sombreamento são prejudiciais ao crescimento inicial da espécie por provocarem intenso estiolamento e redução no número médio de folhas. A realização da adubação nitrogenada é de suma importância... / The jatropha (Jatropha curcas L.) is a plant known in America and cultivated since ancient times, but only in the last three decades began to be studied agronomy. It is considered a promising species for the biofuels production because its high oil content in seeds. It‟s a plant still under domestication because it, studies on their growth and physiology are still scarce, but necessary to the expansion of culture throughout the country, so the objective of this research was to analyze the growth and nitrogen metabolism in young plants of J. curcas grown under four conditions of shading (0, 30, 50 and 70% coverage) and four nitrate concentrations (0, 15, 30 and 45 mM). For 120 days the plants were treated and biometrically evaluated as to height, diameter, number of leaves, leaf surface area and fresh and dry mass. Physiologically, we analyzed the enzymes activity of the nitrate reductase and glutamine synthetase, total soluble protein, quantitative analysis of nitrate and ammonia. The results suggest that with respect to the initial growth J. curcas is responsive to the shading, with physiologic characteristics that reflected in morphological adaptations of leaf area expansion, petiole elongation and greater height growth looking environments with higher brightness, and shading environments with 30% are effective in leaf temperature control and water retention in the substrate allowing for better development of plants, however, levels above 50% shading is detrimental to early growth of the species to cause intense etiolation and reduction in the number of leaves. The nitrogen fertilizer is a paramount importance in the early development of plants, the start deficiency visual symptoms appear in the first month after germination. Nitrate concentrations exceeding 30 mM are harmful because they cause a reduction... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Glutamine synthetase (GS) is a key enzyme in nitrogen (N) assimilation, especially during seed development. This thesis has identified three cytosolic GS isoforms (HvGS1) in barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv Golden Promise). The quantitation of gene expression, isoform localisation and response to N supply has revealed that each gene plays a non-redundant role in different tissues throughout seedling development. The localisation of HvGS1_1 in vascular cells of different tissues, combined with its abundance in the stem and its response to changes in N supply, indicate that HvGS1_1 is important in N transport and remobilisation. HvGS1_1 is located on chromosome 6H at 72.54 cM, close to the marker HVM074 which is associated with a major quantitative trait locus (QTL) for grain protein content (GPC). HvGS1_1 may be a potential candidate gene to manipulate barley GPC. HvGS1_2 mRNA was localised to the leaf mesophyll cells, in both the cortex and the pericycle of roots and was the dominant HvGS1 isoform in these tissues. HvGS1_2 expression increased in the leaves with an increasing supply of N, suggesting that its role is in the primary assimilation of N. HvGS1_3 was specifically and predominantly localised in the grain, being highly expressed throughout grain development. HvGS1_3 expression increased specifically in the roots of plants grown on high NH₄⁺ suggesting that it has a primary role in grain N assimilation and also in the protection from ammonium toxicity in roots. The expression of the HvGS1 genes is directly correlated with both protein and enzymatic activity, indicating that transcriptional regulation is of prime importance in the control of GS activity in barley. Analysis of 15 different barley cultivars found no correlation between HvGS expression and various desirable attributes. Transgenics which over-express and silence individual HvGS1 isoforms have been produced and confirmed, to analyse for changes in beneficial traits.