The relative influence of plant age and environmental stress signals in triggering a shift from C3 photosynthesis to Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) in the annual halophytic C3-CAM species Mesembryanthemum crystallinum was explored by continuously monitoring net CO2 exchange of whole shoots from the seedling stage until seed set. Plants exposed to high salinity (400 mM NaCl) in hydroponic culture solution or grown in saline-droughted soil acquired between 11% and 24% of their carbon via net dark CO2 uptake involving CAM. In contrast, plants grown under nonsaline, well-watered conditions were capable of completing their life cycle by operating in the C3 mode without ever exhibiting net CO2 uptake at night. These observations are not consistent with the widely expressed view that the induction of CAM by high salinity in M. crystallinum represents an acceleration of preprogrammed developmental processes. Rather, our study demonstrates that the induction of the CAM pathway for carbon acquisition in M. crystallinum is under environmental control.
