Assessment of photosystem II thermoluminescence as a tool to investigate the effects of dehydration and rehydration on the cyclic/chlororespiratory electron pathways in wheat and barley leaves

• The thermoluminescence afterglow (AG) was recorded on variously dehydrated leaves.
• Fast dehydration downshifted the AG band showing an activation of cyclic pathways.
• Slow dehydration increased AG intensity due to a higher capacity of cyclic pathways.
• Severe dehydration lowered AG intensity that strongly raised after plant rewatering.
• AG band behaves consistently with the reported effects of drought on cyclic pathways.

Thermoluminescence emission from wheat leaves was recorded under various controlled drought stress conditions: (i) fast dehydration (few hours) of excised leaves in the dark (ii) slow dehydration (several days) obtained by withholding watering of plants under a day/night cycle (iii) overnight rehydration of the slowly dehydrated plants at a stage of severe dessication. In fast dehydrated leaves, the AG band intensity was unchanged but its position was shifted to lower temperatures, indicating an activation of cyclic and chlororespiratory pathways in darkness, without any increase of their overall electron transfer capacity. By contrast, after a slow dehydration the AG intensity was strongly increased whereas its position was almost unchanged, indicating respectively that the capacity of cyclic pathways was enhanced but that they remained inactivated in darkness. Under more severe dehydration, the AG band almost disappeared. Rewatering caused its rapid bounce significantly above the control level. No significant differences in AG emission could be found between the two drought-sensitive and drought-tolerant wheat cultivars. The afterglow thermoluminescence emission in leaves provides an additional tool to follow the increased capacity and activation of cyclic electron flow around PSI in leaves during mild, severe dehydration and after rehydration.