The Regulatory Phosphorylation of C4 Phosphoenolpyruvate Carboxylase: a Cardinal Event in C4 Photosynthesis. In: Verma DPS, editor. Signal Transduction in Plant Growth and Development. Vienna: Springer; 1996. pp. 141-66. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-7091-7474-6_6]

A conserved 19-amino acid synthetic peptide from the carboxy terminus of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase inhibits the in vitro phosphorylation of the enzyme by the calcium-independent phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase kinase

Higher plant phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) is subject to in vivo phosphorylation of a regulatory serine located in the N-terminal domain of the protein. Studies using synthetic peptide substrates and mutated phosphorylation domain photosynthetic PEPC (C4 PEPC) suggested that the interaction of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase kinase (PEPCk) with its target was not restricted to this domain. However, no further information was available as to where PEPCk-C4 PEPC interactions take place. In this work, we have studied the possible interaction of the conserved 19-amino acid C-terminal sequence of sorghum (Sorghum vulgare Pers cv Tamaran) C4 PEPC with PEPCk. In reconstituted assays, a C-terminal synthetic peptide containing this sequence (peptide C19) was found to inhibit the phosphorylation reaction by the partially purified Ca2+-independent PEPCk (50% inhibition of initial activity = 230 microm). This effect was highly specific because peptide C19 did not alter C4 PEPC phosphorylation by either a partially purified sorghum leaf Ca2+-dependent protein kinase or the catalytic subunit of mammalian protein kinase A. In addition, the Ca2+-independent PEPCk was partially but significantly retained in affinity chromatography using a peptide C19 agarose column. Because peptide C15 (peptide C19 lacking the last four amino acids, QNTG) also inhibited C4 PEPC phosphorylation, it was concluded that the amino acid sequence downstream from the QNTG motif was responsible for the inhibitory effect. Specific antibodies raised against peptide C19 revealed that native C4 PEPC could be in two different conformational states. The results are discussed in relation with the reported crystal structure of the bacterial (Escherichia coli) and plant (maize [Zea mays]) enzymes.

Evidence for a slow-turnover form of the Ca2+-independent phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase kinase in the aleurone-endosperm tissue of germinating barley seeds

Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) activity was detected in aleurone-endosperm extracts of barley (Hordeum vulgare) seeds during germination, and specific anti-sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) C4 PEPC polyclonal antibodies immunodecorated constitutive 103-kD and inducible 108-kD PEPC polypeptides in western analysis. The 103- and 108-kD polypeptides were radiolabeled in situ after imbibition for up to 1.5 d in 32P-labeled inorganic phosphate. In vitro phosphorylation by a Ca2+-independent PEPC protein kinase (PK) in crude extracts enhanced the enzyme's velocity and decreased its sensitivity to L-malate at suboptimal pH and [PEP]. Isolated aleurone cell protoplasts contained both phosphorylated PEPC and a Ca2+-independent PEPC-PK that was partially purified by affinity chromatography on blue dextran-agarose. This PK activity was present in dry seeds, and PEPC phosphorylation in situ during imbibition was not affected by the cytosolic protein-synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide, by weak acids, or by various pharmacological reagents that had proven to be effective blockers of the light signal transduction chain and PEPC phosphorylation in C4 mesophyll protoplasts. These collective data support the hypothesis that this Ca2+-independent PEPC-PK was formed during maturation of barley seeds and that its presumed underlying signaling elements were no longer operative during germination.

Expression of a soybean nodule-enhanced phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase gene that shows striking similarity to another gene for a house-keeping isoform

Three different cDNAs for phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) were isolated from soybean root nodules. The full-length cDNA of the most abundant isoform (GmPEPC7) was very similar to another one (GmPEPC15), the nucleotide sequence of which is identical to that of a reported clone (gmppc1) (Vazquez-Tello, A., Whittier, R.F., Kawasaki, T., Sugimoto, T., Kawamura, Y. and Shibata, D. (1993) Plant Physiol. 103, 1025-1026). In the coding region, the newly isolated GmPEPC7 and the previously reported were gmppc1 99% and 98% identical at the amino acid and nucleotide levels, respectively. In contrast, they exhibited only 39% identity in the 3' non-coding region, indicating that they are encoded by distinct genes. Northern blot analysis with 3' non-coding regions as isoform-specific probes showed that GmPEPC7 is nodule-enhanced whereas GmPEPC15 (gmppc1) is expressed in most soybean tissues. The third clone (GmPEPC4) was much less homologous to the above two clones and thus was not further characterized. It was also shown by in situ hybridization that the nodule-enhanced isoform is expressed in all cell types in nodules, including in Bradyrhizobium-infected and uninfected cells and cortical cells. A relatively strong hybridization signal was detected in the vascular bundle pericycle. Southern blot analysis indicated that there are only two PEPC genes exhibiting a high degree of similarity in the soybean genome, one for the nodule-enhanced GmPEPC7 and the other for the constitutively expressed gmppc1. A phylogenetic tree based on the amino acid sequences of soybean PEPCs and nodule-enhanced PEPCs of alfalfa and pea suggested that the soybean nodule-enhanced isoform evolved from the housekeeping PEPC gene after the ureid-translocating and amide-translocating legumes diverged from each other.

PHOSPHOENOLPYRUVATE CARBOXYLASE: A Ubiquitous, Highly Regulated Enzyme in Plants

Since plant phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) was last reviewed in the Annual Review of Plant Physiology over a decade ago (O'Leary 1982), significant advances have been made in our knowledge of this oligomeric, cytosolic enzyme. This review highlights this exciting progress in plant PEPC research by focusing on the three major areas of recent investigation: the enzymology of the protein; its posttranslational regulation by reversible protein phosphorylation and opposing metabolite effectors; and the structure, expression, and molecular evolution of the nuclear PEPC genes. It is hoped that the next ten years will be equally enlightening, especially with respect to the three-dimensional structure of the plant enzyme, the molecular analysis of its highly regulated protein-Ser/Thr kinase, and the elucidation of its associated signal-transduction pathways in various plant cell types.