U.S. flagAn official website of the United States government
                    Here's how you know **Official websites use .gov**
                            
                            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
 **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
                            
                            A **lock** (                            
                              A locked padlock                                                      
                            
                            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Menu Agricultural Research Service
						
                    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 close



Research
                Research Home
                            National Programs
                            Research Projects
                            Scientific Manuscripts
                            International Engagement
                            Scientific Software/Models
                            Databases and Datasets
                            Office of Scientific Quality Review
            Media
                News & Features
                            Multimedia
                            Briefing Room
                            Down on the Farm
                            Press Room
                            Science in Your Shopping Cart
                            Scientific Discoveries
                            Tellus
                            Under the Microscope
            About ARS
                About ARS Home
                            Staff Directory
                            Labs and Research Centers (Map)
                            Headquarter Offices
                            Organizational Chart
                            Employee Services (REE Employees Only)
                            Office of Outreach, Diversity, and Equal Opportunity
            Work With Us
                Work With Us Home
                            ARS Vacancies at USAJOBS
                            Careers at ARS Information
                            Scientific Collaborations
                            Extramural Agreements
                            1890 Faculty Research Sabbatical ProgramSearch small
                    Search
            
            ARS Home
                                About ARS
                                Contact Us




ARS Home News & Events News Articles Research News 2003





- ARS News & Events
- AgResearch Magazine
- Image Gallery
- News
- Search News & Events
- Pesticide Drift May Endanger Pollinators
- ARS Seeks a Fire Ant Fix
- Scientific Discoveries 2024
- ARS Featured Photos
- Down on the Farm
- Facebook Live Events
- Food and Nutrition Research Briefs
- News Archive
- Science in Your Shopping Cart
- Scientific Discoveries
- Social Media
- Under the Microscope
- AgResearch magazine
- ARS at Work
- ARS Memorial Lectures
- ARS Science Hall of Fame
- Citrus Disease (Huanglongbing)
- Contact Office of Communications
- Plant Hardiness Zone Map
- Mobile Apps
- Public Affairs Contacts
- Publications and Other Resources
- USDA Blog
- Videos

Archived Page
 This page has been archived and is being provided for reference purposes only. The page is no longer being updated, and therefore, links on the page may be invalid.
 Click image for caption and other photo information.
Read the magazine story to find out more.
Vitamin C Protects Stressed-Out Plants
By Rosalie Marion BlissJanuary 21, 2003
People aren't the only ones using antioxidants to protect their cells. Plants also use the antioxidant vitamin C--which they produce themselves--to reduce oxidative cell damage. Agricultural Research Service scientists are looking into ways that plants use vitamin C to defend against ozone, which damages more plants than all other air pollutants combined.
Stratospheric, or upper-level, ozone protects Earth from damaging, ultraviolet radiation. But tropospheric, or ground-level, ozone, is a pollutant. Tropospheric ozone enters plants through their leaves and decomposes into unstable molecules called reactive oxygen intermediates (ROIs). If not neutralized by an antioxidant, ROIs injure plants.
At the ARS Air Quality-Plant Growth and Development Research Unit in Raleigh, N.C., plant physiologist Kent Burkey is studying how plants transport vitamin C out of their leaf cells and into a complex of adjoining cell walls. This outer cellular space, called the apoplast, is an interconnected liquid layer surrounding the cells.
Burkey has found that plants that are able to move greater quantities of vitamin C into the leaf apoplast have a better chance of detoxifying ozone.
He has evidence that ozone tolerance in snap beans is associated with elevated vitamin C in the leaf apoplast. He also has found that plants vary widely in terms of how much vitamin C they make inside their cells. But while some plants make lots of vitamin C in their cells, they are not capable of pumping it into the apoplast where it can provide protection against ozone injury.
Burkey's most recent tests on snap beans suggest that the presence of vitamin C in the apoplast before ozone enters the leaf is critical.
He will next look more closely at how vitamin C and derivatives are pumped between the cell and the apoplast. And he will be looking for other antioxidant compounds in the leaf apoplast that could protect against ozone injury.
Read more on this in the January issue of Agricultural Research magazine.
ARS is the chief scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.


Return to top


Research
                            Media
                            About ARS
                            Work With Us


Connect with ARS Sign up


ARS Home
                            USDA.gov
                            Plain Writing
                            Policies & Links
                            Civil Rights Statements
                            FOIA
                            Accessibility Statement
                            Privacy Policy
                            Non-Discrimination Statement
                            Quality of Information
                            USA.gov
                            WhiteHouse.gov