Brassinosteroids (BRs) are potent regulators of photosynthesis and crop yield in agricultural crops; however, the mechanism by which BRs increase photosynthesis is not fully understood. Here, we show that foliar application of 24-epibrassinolide (EBR) resulted in increases in CO2 assimilation, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) accumulation, and leaf area in cucumber. H2O2 treatment induced increases in CO2 assimilation whilst inhibition of the H2O2 accumulation by its generation inhibitor or scavenger completely abolished EBR-induced CO2 assimilation. Increases of light harvesting due to larger leaf areas in EBR- and H2O2-treated plants were accompanied by increases in the photochemical efficiency of photosystem II (ΦPSII) and photochemical quenching coefficient (q P). EBR and H2O2 both activated carboxylation efficiency of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate oxygenase/carboxylase (Rubisco) from analysis of CO2 response curve and in vitro measurement of Rubisco activities. Moreover, EBR and H2O2 increased contents of total soluble sugar, sucrose, hexose, and starch, followed by enhanced activities of sugar metabolism such as sucrose phosphate synthase, sucrose synthase, and invertase. Interestingly, expression of transcripts of enzymes involved in starch and sugar utilization were inhibited by EBR and H2O2. However, the effects of EBR on carbohydrate metabolisms were reversed by the H2O2 generation inhibitor diphenyleneodonium (DPI) or scavenger dimethylthiourea (DMTU) pretreatment. All of these results indicate that H2O2 functions as a secondary messenger for EBR-induced CO2 assimilation and carbohydrate metabolism in cucumber plants. Our study confirms that H2O2 mediates the regulation of photosynthesis by BRs and suggests that EBR and H2O2 regulate Calvin cycle and sugar metabolism via redox signaling and thus increase the photosynthetic potential and yield of crops.

Cucumber and rice plants with varying ammonium (NH4 +) sensitivities were used to examine the effects of different nitrogen (N) sources on gas exchange, chlorophyll (Chl) fluorescence quenching, and photosynthetic electron allocation. Compared to nitrate (NO3 −)-grown plants, cucumber plants grown under NH4 +-nutrition showed decreased plant growth, net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, intercellular carbon dioxide (CO2) level, transpiration rate, maximum photochemical efficiency of photosystem II, and O2-independent alternative electron flux, and increased O2-dependent alternative electron flux. However, the N source had little effect on gas exchange, Chl a fluorescence parameters, and photosynthetic electron allocation in rice plants, except that NH4 +-grown plants had a higher O2-independent alternative electron flux than NO3 −-grown plants. NO3 − reduction activity was rarely detected in leaves of NH4 +-grown cucumber plants, but was high in NH4 +-grown rice plants. These results demonstrate that significant amounts of photosynthetic electron transport were coupled to NO3 − assimilation, an effect more significant in NO3 −-grown plants than in NH4 +-grown plants. Meanwhile, NH4 +-tolerant plants exhibited a higher demand for the reduced form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) for NO3 − reduction, regardless of the N form supplied, while NH4 +-sensitive plants had a high water-water cycle activity when NH4 + was supplied as the sole N source.

Brassinosteroids (BRs) are essential for many biological processes in plants, however, little is known about their roles in early fruit development. To address this, BR levels were manipulated through the application of exogenous BRs (24-epibrassinolide, EBR) or a BR biosynthesis inhibitor (brassinazole, Brz) and their effects on early fruit development, cell division, and expression of cyclin and cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) genes were examined in two cucumber cultivars that differ in parthenocarpic capacity. The application of EBR induced parthenocarpic growth accompanied by active cell division in Jinchun No. 4, a cultivar without parthenocarpic capacity, whereas Brz treatment inhibited fruit set and, subsequently, fruit growth in Jinchun No. 2, a cultivar with natural parthenocarpic capacity, and this inhibitory effect could be rescued by the application of EBR. RT-PCR analysis showed both pollination and EBR induced expression of cell cycle-related genes (CycA, CycB, CycD3;1, CycD3;2, and CDKB) after anthesis. cDNA sequences for CsCycD3;1 and CsCycD3;2 were isolated through PCR amplification. Both CsCycD3;1 and CsCycD3;2 transcripts were up-regulated by EBR treatment and pollination but strongly repressed by Brz treatment. Meanwhile, BR6ox1 and SMT transcripts, two genes involved in BR synthesis, exhibited feedback regulation. These results strongly suggest that BRs play an important role during early fruit development in cucumber.