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Leung A, Patel R, Chirachon V, Stata M, Macfarlane TD, Ludwig M, Busch FA, Sage TL, Sage RF. Tribulus (Zygophyllaceae) as a case study for the evolution of C 2 and C 4 photosynthesis. PLANT, CELL & ENVIRONMENT 2024; 47:3541-3560. [PMID: 39132738 DOI: 10.1111/pce.15069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2024] [Revised: 07/19/2024] [Accepted: 07/23/2024] [Indexed: 08/13/2024]
Abstract
C2 photosynthesis is a photosynthetic pathway in which photorespiratory CO2 release and refixation are enhanced in leaf bundle sheath (BS) tissues. The evolution of C2 photosynthesis has been hypothesized to be a major step in the origin of C4 photosynthesis, highlighting the importance of studying C2 evolution. In this study, physiological, anatomical, ultrastructural, and immunohistochemical properties of leaf photosynthetic tissues were investigated in six non-C4 Tribulus species and four C4 Tribulus species. At 42°C, T. cristatus exhibited a photosynthetic CO2 compensation point in the absence of respiration (C*) of 21 µmol mol-1, below the C3 mean C* of 73 µmol mol-1. Tribulus astrocarpus had a C* value at 42°C of 55 µmol mol-1, intermediate between the C3 species and the C2 T. cristatus. Glycine decarboxylase (GDC) allocation to BS tissues was associated with lower C*. Tribulus cristatus and T. astrocarpus allocated 86% and 30% of their GDC to the BS tissues, respectively, well above the C3 mean of 11%. Tribulus astrocarpus thus exhibits a weaker C2 (termed sub-C2) phenotype. Increased allocation of mitochondria to the BS and decreased length-to-width ratios of BS cells, were present in non-C4 species, indicating a potential role in C2 and C4 evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arthur Leung
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Ria Patel
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Varosak Chirachon
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Matt Stata
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Plant Biology, and Plant, Soil, and Microbial Sciences, Plant Resilience Institute, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
| | - Terry D Macfarlane
- School of Molecular Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
- Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Western Australian Herbarium, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Martha Ludwig
- School of Molecular Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Florian A Busch
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- School of Biosciences and Birmingham Institute of Forest Research, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK
| | - Tammy L Sage
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Rowan F Sage
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Miao F, Wang Y, Haq NU, Lyu MJA, Zhu XG. Rewiring of primary metabolism for ammonium recycling under short-term low CO 2 treatment - its implication for C 4 evolution. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2024; 15:1322261. [PMID: 39148616 PMCID: PMC11324553 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1322261] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2023] [Accepted: 07/04/2024] [Indexed: 08/17/2024]
Abstract
The dramatic decrease in atmospheric CO2 concentration during Oligocene was proposed as directly linked to C4 evolution. However, it remains unclear how the decreased CO2 concentration directly facilitate C4 evolution, besides its role as a selection pressure. We conducted a systematic transcriptomics and metabolomics analysis under short-term low CO2 condition and found that Arabidopsis grown under this condition showed 1) increased expression of most genes encoding C4-related enzymes and transporters; 2) increased expression of genes involved in photorespiration and pathways related to carbon skeleton generation for ammonium refixation; 3) increased expression of genes directly involved in ammonium refixation. Furthermore, we found that in vitro treatment of leaves with NH4 + induced a similar pattern of changes in C4 related genes and genes involved in ammonium refixation. These data support the view that Arabidopsis grown under short-term low CO2 conditions rewired its metabolism to supply carbon skeleton for ammonium recycling, during which process the expression of C4 genes were up-regulated as a result of a hitchhiking process. This study provides new insights into the adaptation of the C3 model plant Arabidopsis under low CO2 conditions and suggests that low CO2 can facilitate the evolution of C4 photosynthesis beyond the commonly assumed role of being a selection pressure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fenfen Miao
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), Beijing, China
- CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology (SIPPE), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai, China
| | - Ying Wang
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), Beijing, China
- CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology (SIPPE), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai, China
| | - Noor Ui Haq
- Department of Computer Science and Bioinformatics, Khushal Khan Khattak University, Karak, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
| | - Ming-Ju Amy Lyu
- CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology (SIPPE), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai, China
| | - Xin-Guang Zhu
- CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology (SIPPE), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai, China
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Gao W, Dai D, Luo H, Yu D, Liu C, Zhang N, Liu L, You C, Zhou S, Tu L, Liu Y, Huang C, He X, Cui X. Habitat differentiation and environmental adaptability contribute to leaf size variations globally in C 3 and C 4 grasses. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 937:173309. [PMID: 38782268 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173309] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2024] [Revised: 05/14/2024] [Accepted: 05/15/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024]
Abstract
The grass family (Poaceae) dominates ~43 % of Earth's land area and contributes 33 % of terrestrial primary productivity that is critical to naturally regulating atmosphere CO2 concentration and global climate change. Currently grasses comprise ~11,780 species and ~50 % of them (~6000 species) utilize C4 photosynthetic pathway. Generally, grass species have smaller leaves under colder and drier environments, but it is unclear whether the primary drivers of leaf size differ between C3 and C4 grasses on a global scale. Here, we analyzed 34 environmental variables, such as latitude, elevation, mean annual temperature, mean annual precipitation, and solar radiation etc., through a comparatively comprehensive database of ~3.0 million occurrence records from 1380 C3 and 978 C4 grass species (2358 species in total). Results from this study confirm that C4 grasses have occupied habitats with lower latitudes and elevations, characterized by warmer, sunnier, drier and less fertile environmental conditions. Grass leaf size correlates positively with mean annual temperature and precipitation as expected. Our results also demonstrate that the mean temperature of the wettest quarter of the year is the primary control for C3 leaf size, whereas C4 leaf size is negatively correlated with the difference between summer and winter temperatures. For C4 grasses, phylogeny exerts a significant effect on leaf size but is less important than environmental factors. Our findings highlight the importance of evolutionarily contrasting variations in leaf size between C3 and C4 grasses for shaping their geographical distribution and habitat suitability at the global scale.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wuchao Gao
- National Forestry and Grassland Administration Engineering Research Centre for Southwest Forest and Grassland Fire Ecological Prevention, College of Forestry, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130, China; National Forestry and Grassland Administration Key Laboratory of Forest Resources Conservation and Ecological Safety on the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River & Forestry Ecological Engineering in the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130, China
| | - Dachuan Dai
- National Forestry and Grassland Administration Engineering Research Centre for Southwest Forest and Grassland Fire Ecological Prevention, College of Forestry, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130, China
| | - Huan Luo
- National Forestry and Grassland Administration Engineering Research Centre for Southwest Forest and Grassland Fire Ecological Prevention, College of Forestry, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130, China
| | - Dongli Yu
- National Forestry and Grassland Administration Engineering Research Centre for Southwest Forest and Grassland Fire Ecological Prevention, College of Forestry, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130, China
| | - Congcong Liu
- College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Minzu University of China, Beijing 100081, China
| | - Ning Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Lin Liu
- College of Grassland Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130, China
| | - Chengming You
- National Forestry and Grassland Administration Engineering Research Centre for Southwest Forest and Grassland Fire Ecological Prevention, College of Forestry, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130, China; National Forestry and Grassland Administration Key Laboratory of Forest Resources Conservation and Ecological Safety on the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River & Forestry Ecological Engineering in the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130, China
| | - Shixing Zhou
- National Forestry and Grassland Administration Engineering Research Centre for Southwest Forest and Grassland Fire Ecological Prevention, College of Forestry, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130, China; National Forestry and Grassland Administration Key Laboratory of Forest Resources Conservation and Ecological Safety on the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River & Forestry Ecological Engineering in the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130, China
| | - Lihua Tu
- National Forestry and Grassland Administration Engineering Research Centre for Southwest Forest and Grassland Fire Ecological Prevention, College of Forestry, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130, China; National Forestry and Grassland Administration Key Laboratory of Forest Resources Conservation and Ecological Safety on the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River & Forestry Ecological Engineering in the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130, China
| | - Yang Liu
- National Forestry and Grassland Administration Engineering Research Centre for Southwest Forest and Grassland Fire Ecological Prevention, College of Forestry, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130, China; National Forestry and Grassland Administration Key Laboratory of Forest Resources Conservation and Ecological Safety on the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River & Forestry Ecological Engineering in the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130, China
| | - Congde Huang
- National Forestry and Grassland Administration Engineering Research Centre for Southwest Forest and Grassland Fire Ecological Prevention, College of Forestry, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130, China; National Forestry and Grassland Administration Key Laboratory of Forest Resources Conservation and Ecological Safety on the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River & Forestry Ecological Engineering in the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130, China
| | - Xinhua He
- National Forestry and Grassland Administration Engineering Research Centre for Southwest Forest and Grassland Fire Ecological Prevention, College of Forestry, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130, China; School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia; Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
| | - Xinglei Cui
- National Forestry and Grassland Administration Engineering Research Centre for Southwest Forest and Grassland Fire Ecological Prevention, College of Forestry, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130, China; National Forestry and Grassland Administration Key Laboratory of Forest Resources Conservation and Ecological Safety on the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River & Forestry Ecological Engineering in the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130, China.
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Elliott TL, Spalink D, Larridon I, Zuntini AR, Escudero M, Hackel J, Barrett RL, Martín-Bravo S, Márquez-Corro JI, Granados Mendoza C, Mashau AC, Romero-Soler KJ, Zhigila DA, Gehrke B, Andrino CO, Crayn DM, Vorontsova MS, Forest F, Baker WJ, Wilson KL, Simpson DA, Muasya AM. Global analysis of Poales diversification - parallel evolution in space and time into open and closed habitats. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2024; 242:727-743. [PMID: 38009920 DOI: 10.1111/nph.19421] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2023] [Accepted: 11/03/2023] [Indexed: 11/29/2023]
Abstract
Poales are one of the most species-rich, ecologically and economically important orders of plants and often characterise open habitats, enabled by unique suites of traits. We test six hypotheses regarding the evolution and assembly of Poales in open and closed habitats throughout the world, and examine whether diversification patterns demonstrate parallel evolution. We sampled 42% of Poales species and obtained taxonomic and biogeographic data from the World Checklist of Vascular Plants database, which was combined with open/closed habitat data scored by taxonomic experts. A dated supertree of Poales was constructed. We integrated spatial phylogenetics with regionalisation analyses, historical biogeography and ancestral state estimations. Diversification in Poales and assembly of open and closed habitats result from dynamic evolutionary processes that vary across lineages, time and space, most prominently in tropical and southern latitudes. Our results reveal parallel and recurrent patterns of habitat and trait transitions in the species-rich families Poaceae and Cyperaceae. Smaller families display unique and often divergent evolutionary trajectories. The Poales have achieved global dominance via parallel evolution in open habitats, with notable, spatially and phylogenetically restricted divergences into strictly closed habitats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tammy L Elliott
- Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, 611 37, Czech Republic
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, 7700, South Africa
| | - Daniel Spalink
- Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, TX, 77843-2258, USA
| | - Isabel Larridon
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3AE, UK
- Systematic and Evolutionary Botany Lab, Department of Biology, Ghent University, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000, Gent, Belgium
| | | | - Marcial Escudero
- Department of Plant Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Biology, University of Seville, Reina Mercedes 6, Seville, 41012, Spain
| | - Jan Hackel
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3AE, UK
- Department of Biology, University of Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch-Str. 8, 35043, Marburg, Germany
| | - Russell L Barrett
- National Herbarium of New South Wales, Botanic Gardens of Sydney, Australian Botanic Garden, Locked Bag 6002, Mount Annan, NSW, 2567, Australia
| | - Santiago Martín-Bravo
- Botany Area, Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemical Engineering, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, ctra. de Utrera km 1, 41013, Seville, Spain
| | - José Ignacio Márquez-Corro
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3AE, UK
- Botany Area, Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemical Engineering, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, ctra. de Utrera km 1, 41013, Seville, Spain
| | - Carolina Granados Mendoza
- Departamento de Botánica, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, CP 04510, Mexico
| | - Aluoneswi C Mashau
- Foundational Research and Services, South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), Private Bag X101, Pretoria, 0184, South Africa
| | - Katya J Romero-Soler
- Departamento de Botánica, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, CP 04510, Mexico
| | - Daniel A Zhigila
- Department of Botany, Gombe State University, Tudun Wada, Gombe, 760001, Nigeria
| | - Berit Gehrke
- Universitetet i Bergen, Universitetsmuseet, Postboks 7800, NO-5020, Bergen, Norway
| | - Caroline Oliveira Andrino
- Departamento de Botânica, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Distrito Federal, CEP 70910-900, Brazil
| | - Darren M Crayn
- Sir Robert Norman Building (E2), James Cook University, PO Box 6811, Cairns, QLD, 4870, Australia
| | | | - Félix Forest
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3AE, UK
| | | | - Karen L Wilson
- National Herbarium of New South Wales, Botanic Gardens of Sydney, Australian Botanic Garden, Locked Bag 6002, Mount Annan, NSW, 2567, Australia
| | - David A Simpson
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3AE, UK
- Botany Department, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College, The University of Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - A Muthama Muasya
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, 7700, South Africa
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5
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Capó-Bauçà S, Iñiguez C, Galmés J. The diversity and coevolution of Rubisco and CO 2 concentrating mechanisms in marine macrophytes. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2024; 241:2353-2365. [PMID: 38197185 DOI: 10.1111/nph.19528] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2023] [Accepted: 12/15/2023] [Indexed: 01/11/2024]
Abstract
The kinetic properties of Rubisco, the most important carbon-fixing enzyme, have been assessed in a small fraction of the estimated existing biodiversity of photosynthetic organisms. Until recently, one of the most significant gaps of knowledge in Rubisco kinetics was marine macrophytes, an ecologically relevant group including brown (Ochrophyta), red (Rhodophyta) and green (Chlorophyta) macroalgae and seagrasses (Streptophyta). These organisms express various Rubisco types and predominantly possess CO2 -concentrating mechanisms (CCMs), which facilitate the use of bicarbonate for photosynthesis. Since bicarbonate is the most abundant form of dissolved inorganic carbon in seawater, CCMs allow marine macrophytes to overcome the slow gas diffusion and low CO2 availability in this environment. The present review aims to compile and integrate recent findings on the biochemical diversity of Rubisco and CCMs in the main groups of marine macrophytes. The Rubisco kinetic data provided demonstrate a more relaxed relationship among catalytic parameters than previously reported, uncovering a variability in Rubisco catalysis that has been hidden by a bias in the literature towards terrestrial vascular plants. The compiled data indicate the existence of convergent evolution between Rubisco and biophysical CCMs across the polyphyletic groups of marine macrophytes and suggest a potential role for oxygen in shaping such relationship.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastià Capó-Bauçà
- Research Group on Plant Biology under Mediterranean Conditions, Universitat de les Illes Balears-INAGEA, 07122, Palma, Balearic Islands, Spain
| | - Concepción Iñiguez
- Research Group on Plant Biology under Mediterranean Conditions, Universitat de les Illes Balears-INAGEA, 07122, Palma, Balearic Islands, Spain
- Department of Ecology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Malaga, Boulevard Louis Pasteur s/n, 29010, Málaga, Spain
| | - Jeroni Galmés
- Research Group on Plant Biology under Mediterranean Conditions, Universitat de les Illes Balears-INAGEA, 07122, Palma, Balearic Islands, Spain
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Kaste JA, Walker BJ, Shachar-Hill Y. Biophysical carbon concentrating mechanisms in land plants: insights from reaction-diffusion modeling. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.01.04.574220. [PMID: 38260381 PMCID: PMC10802268 DOI: 10.1101/2024.01.04.574220] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2024]
Abstract
Carbon Concentrating Mechanisms (CCMs) have evolved numerous times in photosynthetic organisms. They elevate the concentration of CO2 around the carbon-fixing enzyme rubisco, thereby increasing CO2 assimilatory flux and reducing photorespiration. Biophysical CCMs, like the pyrenoid-based CCM of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii or carboxysome systems of cyanobacteria, are common in aquatic photosynthetic microbes, but in land plants appear only among the hornworts. To predict the likely efficiency of biophysical CCMs in C3 plants, we used spatially resolved reaction-diffusion models to predict rubisco saturation and light use efficiency. We find that the energy efficiency of adding individual CCM components to a C3 land plant is highly dependent on the permeability of lipid membranes to CO2, with values in the range reported in the literature that are higher than used in previous modeling studies resulting in low light use efficiency. Adding a complete pyrenoid-based CCM into the leaf cells of a C3 land plant is predicted to boost net CO2 fixation, but at higher energetic costs than those incurred by photorespiratory losses without a CCM. Two notable exceptions are when substomatal CO2 levels are as low as those found in land plants that already employ biochemical CCMs and when gas exchange is limited such as with hornworts, making the use of a biophysical CCM necessary to achieve net positive CO2 fixation under atmospheric CO2 levels. This provides an explanation for the uniqueness of hornworts' CCM among land plants and evolution of pyrenoids multiple times.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua A.M. Kaste
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University, 603 Wilson Rd, East Lansing, MI 48823
- Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, 612 Wilson Rd, East Lansing, MI 48824
| | - Berkley J. Walker
- Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, 612 Wilson Rd, East Lansing, MI 48824
- Department of Energy Plant Research Laboratory, Michigan State University, 612 Wilson Rd, East Lansing, MI 48824
| | - Yair Shachar-Hill
- Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, 612 Wilson Rd, East Lansing, MI 48824
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7
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Zotz G, Andrade JL, Einzmann HJR. CAM plants: their importance in epiphyte communities and prospects with global change. ANNALS OF BOTANY 2023; 132:685-698. [PMID: 36617243 PMCID: PMC10799991 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcac158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2022] [Revised: 12/08/2022] [Accepted: 12/15/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND SCOPE The epiphytic life form characterizes almost 10 % of all vascular plants. Defined by structural dependence throughout their life and their non-parasitic relationship with the host, the term epiphyte describes a heterogeneous and taxonomically diverse group of plants. This article reviews the importance of crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) among epiphytes in current climatic conditions and explores the prospects under global change. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS We question the view of a disproportionate importance of CAM among epiphytes and its role as a 'key innovation' for epiphytism but do identify ecological conditions in which epiphytic existence seems to be contingent on the presence of this photosynthetic pathway. Possibly divergent responses of CAM and C3 epiphytes to future changes in climate and land use are discussed with the help of experimental evidence, current distributional patterns and the results of several long-term descriptive community studies. The results and their interpretation aim to stimulate a fruitful discussion on the role of CAM in epiphytes in current climatic conditions and in altered climatic conditions in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gerhard Zotz
- Functional Ecology Group, Institute of Biology and Environmental Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Box 5634, D-26046 Oldenburg, Germany
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Box 0843-03092, Panama, Republic of Panama
| | - José Luis Andrade
- Unidad de Recursos Naturales, Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán, Calle 43 No. 130, Chuburná de Hidalgo, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico
| | - Helena J R Einzmann
- Functional Ecology Group, Institute of Biology and Environmental Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Box 5634, D-26046 Oldenburg, Germany
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8
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Sage RF, Gilman IS, Smith JAC, Silvera K, Edwards EJ. Atmospheric CO2 decline and the timing of CAM plant evolution. ANNALS OF BOTANY 2023; 132:753-770. [PMID: 37642245 PMCID: PMC10799994 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcad122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2023] [Revised: 08/19/2023] [Accepted: 08/28/2023] [Indexed: 08/31/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS CAM photosynthesis is hypothesized to have evolved in atmospheres of low CO2 concentration in recent geological time because of its ability to concentrate CO2 around Rubisco and boost water use efficiency relative to C3 photosynthesis. We assess this hypothesis by compiling estimates of when CAM clades arose using phylogenetic chronograms for 73 CAM clades. We further consider evidence of how atmospheric CO2 affects CAM relative to C3 photosynthesis. RESULTS Where CAM origins can be inferred, strong CAM is estimated to have appeared in the past 30 million years in 46 of 48 examined clades, after atmospheric CO2 had declined from high (near 800 ppm) to lower (<450 ppm) values. In turn, 21 of 25 clades containing CAM species (but where CAM origins are less certain) also arose in the past 30 million years. In these clades, CAM is probably younger than the clade origin. We found evidence for repeated weak CAM evolution during the higher CO2 conditions before 30 million years ago, and possible strong CAM origins in the Crassulaceae during the Cretaceous period prior to atmospheric CO2 decline. Most CAM-specific clades arose in the past 15 million years, in a similar pattern observed for origins of C4 clades. CONCLUSIONS The evidence indicates strong CAM repeatedly evolved in reduced CO2 conditions of the past 30 million years. Weaker CAM can pre-date low CO2 and, in the Crassulaceae, strong CAM may also have arisen in water-limited microsites under relatively high CO2. Experimental evidence from extant CAM species demonstrates that elevated CO2 reduces the importance of nocturnal CO2 fixation by increasing the contribution of C3 photosynthesis to daily carbon gain. Thus, the advantage of strong CAM would be reduced in high CO2, such that its evolution appears less likely and restricted to more extreme environments than possible in low CO2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rowan F Sage
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3B2, Canada
| | - Ian S Gilman
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - J Andrew C Smith
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3RB, UK
| | - Katia Silvera
- Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - Erika J Edwards
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
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9
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Pereira L, Bianconi ME, Osborne CP, Christin PA, Dunning LT. Alloteropsis semialata as a study system for C4 evolution in grasses. ANNALS OF BOTANY 2023; 132:365-382. [PMID: 37422712 PMCID: PMC10667010 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcad078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2023] [Accepted: 07/07/2023] [Indexed: 07/10/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Numerous groups of plants have adapted to CO2 limitations by independently evolving C4 photosynthesis. This trait relies on concerted changes in anatomy and biochemistry to concentrate CO2 within the leaf and thereby boost productivity in tropical conditions. The ecological and economic importance of C4 photosynthesis has motivated intense research, often relying on comparisons between distantly related C4 and non-C4 plants. The photosynthetic type is fixed in most species, with the notable exception of the grass Alloteropsis semialata. This species includes populations exhibiting the ancestral C3 state in southern Africa, intermediate populations in the Zambezian region and C4 populations spread around the palaeotropics. SCOPE We compile here the knowledge on the distribution and evolutionary history of the Alloteropsis genus as a whole and discuss how this has furthered our understanding of C4 evolution. We then present a chromosome-level reference genome for a C3 individual and compare the genomic architecture with that of a C4 accession of A. semialata. CONCLUSIONS Alloteropsis semialata is one of the best systems in which to investigate the evolution of C4 photosynthesis because the genetic and phenotypic variation provides a fertile ground for comparative and population-level studies. Preliminary comparative genomic investigations show that the C3 and C4 genomes are highly syntenic and have undergone a modest amount of gene duplication and translocation since the different photosynthetic groups diverged. The background knowledge and publicly available genomic resources make A. semialata a great model for further comparative analyses of photosynthetic diversification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lara Pereira
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN,UK
| | - Matheus E Bianconi
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN,UK
| | - Colin P Osborne
- Plants, Photosynthesis and Soil, School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
| | - Pascal-Antoine Christin
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN,UK
| | - Luke T Dunning
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN,UK
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10
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Walsh CA. Bringing home the carbon: photorespiratory CO2 recovery shows diverse efficiency in Brassicaceae. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY 2023; 74:6399-6404. [PMID: 37988174 PMCID: PMC10662227 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erad371] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2023] [Accepted: 09/18/2023] [Indexed: 11/23/2023]
Abstract
This article comments on:Schlüter U, Bouvier JW, Guerreiro R, Malisic M, Kontny C, Westhoff P, Stich B, Weber APM. 2023. Brassicaceae display variation in efficiency of photorespiratory carbon-recapturing mechanisms. Journal of Experimental Botany 74, 6631–6649.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine A Walsh
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK
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11
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Hongo A, Abe H, Yabiku T, Ueno O. Occurrence of distinctive cells and effects of irradiance on vascular formation in leaves of shade-tolerant C 4 grass Paspalum conjugatum. JOURNAL OF PLANT RESEARCH 2023; 136:691-704. [PMID: 37368133 DOI: 10.1007/s10265-023-01475-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2023] [Accepted: 06/13/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023]
Abstract
The denser leaf vasculature of C4 plants than of C3 plants may suit rapid export of assimilates associated with their higher photosynthetic rate. However, some C4 grasses have partially reduced leaf vasculature with vascular bundle (VB)-free bundle-sheath cells called distinctive cells (DCs). The shade-tolerant C4 grass Paspalum conjugatum has such a reduced leaf vascular system with DCs. We examined whether irradiance during growth affects vascular formation in leaves of P. conjugatum grown under 100%, 30%, or 14% sunlight for 1 month alongside the C4 grass maize. Under all conditions, P. conjugatum leaves had partially reduced vasculature: DCs and incomplete small VBs without phloem occurred between VBs with a normal structure consisting of both xylem and phloem. Shaded plants had less phloem in the small VBs than the full-sunlit plants. In maize, however, all VBs always had both xylem and phloem under all light conditions. The net photosynthetic rate of both grasses was reduced under shade; that of P. conjugatum was always lower than that of maize under all light conditions, but was reduced less by shade than that of maize. The light compensation point was lower in P. conjugatum than in maize, indicating that P. conjugatum acclimatizes better to low light. The reduction of phloem in VBs of P. conjugatum may be an acclimatization to shade, because dense vasculature may be expensive for C4 plants growing in environments where the higher photosynthetic rate is not realized.
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Affiliation(s)
- Akane Hongo
- School of Agriculture, Kyushu University, Motooka 744, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan
| | - Hinako Abe
- School of Agriculture, Kyushu University, Motooka 744, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan
| | - Takayuki Yabiku
- Graduate School of Bioresource and Bioenvironmental Sciences, Kyushu University, Motooka 744, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan
| | - Osamu Ueno
- Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, Motooka 744, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan.
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12
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Zhou H, Akçay E, Helliker B. Optimal coordination and reorganization of photosynthetic properties in C 4 grasses. PLANT, CELL & ENVIRONMENT 2023; 46:796-811. [PMID: 36478594 DOI: 10.1111/pce.14506] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2022] [Revised: 11/29/2022] [Accepted: 12/03/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Each of >20 independent evolutions of C4 photosynthesis in grasses required reorganization of the Calvin-Benson-cycle (CB-cycle) within the leaf, along with coordination of C4 -cycle enzymes with the CB-cycle to maximize CO2 assimilation. Considering the vast amount of time over which C4 evolved, we hypothesized (i) trait divergences exist within and across lineages with both C4 and closely related C3 grasses, (ii) trends in traits after C4 evolution yield the optimization of C4 through time, and (iii) the presence/absence of trends in coordination between the CB-cycle and C4 -cycle provides information on the strength of selection. To address these hypotheses, we used a combination of optimality modelling, physiological measurements and phylogenetic-comparative-analysis. Photosynthesis was optimized after the evolution of C4 causing diversification in maximal assimilation, electron transport, Rubisco carboxylation, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase and chlorophyll within C4 lineages. Both theory and measurements indicated a higher light-reaction to CB-cycle ratio (Jatpmax /Vcmax ) in C4 than C3 . There were no evolutionary trends with photosynthetic coordination between the CB-cycle, light reactions and the C4 -cycle, suggesting strong initial selection for coordination. The coordination of CB-C4 -cycles (Vpmax /Vcmax ) was optimal for CO2 of 200 ppm, not to current conditions. Our model indicated that a higher than optimal Vpmax /Vcmax affects assimilation minimally, thus lessening recent selection to decrease Vpmax /Vcmax .
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Affiliation(s)
- Haoran Zhou
- School of Earth System Science, Institute of Surface-Earth System Science, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China
- School of the Environment, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Erol Akçay
- Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Brent Helliker
- Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
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13
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Cavanagh AP, Slattery R, Kubien DS. Temperature-induced changes in Arabidopsis Rubisco activity and isoform expression. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY 2023; 74:651-663. [PMID: 36124740 PMCID: PMC9833042 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erac379] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2022] [Accepted: 09/16/2022] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
In many plant species, expression of the nuclear encoded Rubisco small subunit (SSu) varies with environmental changes, but the functional role of any changes in expression remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the impact of differential expression of Rubisco SSu isoforms on carbon assimilation in Arabidopsis. Using plants grown at contrasting temperatures (10 °C and 30 °C), we confirm the previously reported temperature response of the four RbcS genes and extend this to protein expression, finding that warm-grown plants produce Rubisco containing ~65% SSu-B and cold-grown plants produce Rubisco with ~65% SSu-A as a proportion of the total pool of subunits. We find that these changes in isoform concentration are associated with kinetic changes to Rubisco in vitro: warm-grown plants produce a Rubisco having greater CO2 affinity (i.e. higher SC/O and lower KC) but lower kcatCO2 at warm measurement temperatures. Although warm-grown plants produce 38% less Rubisco than cold-grown plants on a leaf area basis, warm-grown plants can maintain similar rates of photosynthesis to cold-grown plants at ambient CO2 and 30 °C, indicating that the carboxylation capacity of warm-grown Rubisco is enhanced at warmer measurement temperatures, and is able to compensate for the lower Rubisco content in warm-grown plants. This association between SSu isoform expression and maintenance of Rubisco activity at high temperature suggests that SSu isoform expression could impact the temperature response of C3 photosynthesis.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Rebecca Slattery
- Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
| | - David S Kubien
- Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, E3B 5A3, Canada
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14
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Badger MR, Sharwood RE. Rubisco, the imperfect winner: it's all about the base. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY 2023; 74:562-580. [PMID: 36412307 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erac458] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2022] [Accepted: 11/20/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Rubisco catalysis is complex and includes an activation step through the formation of a carbamate at the conserved active site lysine residue and the formation of a highly reactive enediol that is the key to its catalytic reaction. The formation of this enediol is both the basis of its success and its Achilles' heel, creating imperfections to its catalytic efficiency. While Rubisco originally evolved in an atmosphere of high CO2, the earth's multiple oxidation events provided challenges to Rubisco through the fixation of O2 that competes with CO2 at the active site. Numerous catalytic screens across the Rubisco superfamily have identified significant variation in catalytic properties that have been linked to large and small subunit sequences. Despite this, we still have a rudimentary understanding of Rubisco's catalytic mechanism and how the evolution of kinetic properties has occurred. This review identifies the lysine base that functions both as an activator and a proton abstractor to create the enediol as a key to understanding how Rubisco may optimize its kinetic properties. The ways in which Rubisco and its partners have overcome catalytic and activation imperfections and thrived in a world of high O2, low CO2, and variable climatic regimes is remarkable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Murray R Badger
- Research School of Biology, Building 134 Linnaeus Way, Canberra ACT, 2601, Australia
| | - Robert E Sharwood
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Bourke St, Richmond, NSW, 2753, Australia
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15
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Bauwe H. Photorespiration - Rubisco's repair crew. JOURNAL OF PLANT PHYSIOLOGY 2023; 280:153899. [PMID: 36566670 DOI: 10.1016/j.jplph.2022.153899] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2022] [Revised: 12/11/2022] [Accepted: 12/11/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
The photorespiratory repair pathway (photorespiration in short) was set up from ancient metabolic modules about three billion years ago in cyanobacteria, the later ancestors of chloroplasts. These prokaryotes developed the capacity for oxygenic photosynthesis, i.e. the use of water as a source of electrons and protons (with O2 as a by-product) for the sunlight-driven synthesis of ATP and NADPH for CO2 fixation in the Calvin cycle. However, the CO2-binding enzyme, ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (known under the acronym Rubisco), is not absolutely selective for CO2 and can also use O2 in a side reaction. It then produces 2-phosphoglycolate (2PG), the accumulation of which would inhibit and potentially stop the Calvin cycle and subsequently photosynthetic electron transport. Photorespiration removes the 2-PG and in this way prevents oxygenic photosynthesis from poisoning itself. In plants, the core of photorespiration consists of ten enzymes distributed over three different types of organelles, requiring interorganellar transport and interaction with several auxiliary enzymes. It goes together with the release and to some extent loss of freshly fixed CO2. This disadvantageous feature can be suppressed by CO2-concentrating mechanisms, such as those that evolved in C4 plants thirty million years ago, which enhance CO2 fixation and reduce 2PG synthesis. Photorespiration itself provided a pioneer variant of such mechanisms in the predecessors of C4 plants, C3-C4 intermediate plants. This article is a review and update particularly on the enzyme components of plant photorespiration and their catalytic mechanisms, on the interaction of photorespiration with other metabolism and on its impact on the evolution of photosynthesis. This focus was chosen because a better knowledge of the enzymes involved and how they are embedded in overall plant metabolism can facilitate the targeted use of the now highly advanced methods of metabolic network modelling and flux analysis. Understanding photorespiration more than before as a process that enables, rather than reduces, plant photosynthesis, will help develop rational strategies for crop improvement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hermann Bauwe
- University of Rostock, Plant Physiology, Albert-Einstein-Straße 3, D-18051, Rostock, Germany.
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16
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McCann HC, Sage RF. Seed size effects on plant establishment under low atmospheric CO2, with implications for seed size evolution. ANNALS OF BOTANY 2022; 130:825-834. [PMID: 36094296 PMCID: PMC9758303 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcac112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2022] [Revised: 06/14/2022] [Accepted: 09/09/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Low atmospheric CO2 concentration depresses photosynthesis and resource use efficiency, and therefore can inhibit phases of the life cycle such as seedling establishment. Seed reserves can compensate for photosynthetic inhibition by accelerating seedling growth. We therefore hypothesize that seedlings arising from large seeds show less inhibition from low atmospheric CO2 than young plants from small seeds. Seed size effects on seedling responses to low CO2 may also be enhanced in warm environments, due to greater photorespiration at high temperature. METHODS Phaseolus and Vigna seeds differing in mass by over two orders of magnitude were planted and grown for 14 d in growth chambers with CO2 concentrations of 370, 180 or 100 ppm, in thermal regimes of 25 °C/19 °C, 30 °C/24 °C or 35 °C/29 °C (day/night). We measured leaf area expansion, shoot growth and mortality of the seedlings arising from the variously sized seeds at 14 days after planting (14 DAP). KEY RESULTS Relative to small-seeded plants, large-seeded genotypes produced greater leaf area and shoot mass at 14 DAP across the range of CO2 treatments in the 25 °C/19 °C and 30 °C/24 °C regimes, and at 100 ppm in the 35 °C/29 °C treatment. The proportional decline in leaf area and seed mass with CO2 reduction was generally greater for seedlings arising from small than from large seeds. Reductions in leaf area due to CO2 reduction increased in the warmer temperature treatments. In the 35 °C/19 °C treatment at 100 ppm CO2, seedling mortality was greater in small- than in large-seeded genotypes, and the small-seeded genotypes were unable to exit the seedling stage by the end of the experiment. CONCLUSIONS The results support a hypothesis that seedlings from large seeds grow and establish better than seedlings from small seeds in warm, low CO2 environments. During low CO2 episodes in Earth's history, such as the past 30 million years, large seeds may have been favoured by natural selection in warm environments. With the recent rise in atmospheric CO2 due to human activities, trade-offs between seed size and number may already be affected, such that seed size today may be non-optimal in their natural habitats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Honour C McCann
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 3B2, Canada
- Max Planck Institute for Biology, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Rowan F Sage
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 3B2, Canada
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17
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Martínez ML, Pérez-Maqueo O, Vázquez G, Landgrave R. Warmer Temperature and Spatiotemporal Dynamics during Primary Succession on Tropical Coastal Dunes. PLANTS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2022; 11:3029. [PMID: 36432756 PMCID: PMC9697752 DOI: 10.3390/plants11223029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2022] [Accepted: 11/01/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Coastal dunes are sensitive indicators of climate change: it is expected that higher precipitation and warmer temperature will promote vegetation growth and sand stabilization. Alternatively, dunes may become active during severe droughts, which would reduce plant cover and increase sand mobility. Consequently, it is relevant to explore community shifts and self-organization processes to better understand how coastal dunes vegetation will respond to these projected changes. Primary succession allows the exploration of community assembly and reorganization processes. We focused on three environmental variables (bare sand, temperature, and precipitation) and five successional groups (facilitators, colonizers, sand binders, nucleators, and competitors). For 25 years (from 1991 to 2016), species turnover was monitored in 150 permanent plots (4 × 4 m) placed on an initially mobile dune system located on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The spatiotemporal dynamics observed during primary succession were consistent with the facilitation nucleation model. As late colonizers grew and expanded, psammophytes became locally extinct. The spatial patterns revealed that ecological succession did not occur evenly on the dunes. In addition, the increased mean yearly temperature during the last decades seemed to be associated with the accelerated increment in plant cover and species richness, which had not been registered before in Mexico.
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Affiliation(s)
- M. Luisa Martínez
- Red de Ecología Funcional, (Department of Functional Ecology), INECOL, Xalapa-Enríquez 91073, Mexico
| | - Octavio Pérez-Maqueo
- Red de Ambiente y Sustentabilidad (Department of Environment and Sustainability), INECOL, Xalapa-Enríquez 91073, Mexico
| | - Gabriela Vázquez
- Red de Ecología Funcional, (Department of Functional Ecology), INECOL, Xalapa-Enríquez 91073, Mexico
| | - Rosario Landgrave
- Red de Ecología Funcional, (Department of Functional Ecology), INECOL, Xalapa-Enríquez 91073, Mexico
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18
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Munekage YN, Taniguchi YY. A scheme for C 4 evolution derived from a comparative analysis of the closely related C 3, C 3-C 4 intermediate, C 4-like, and C 4 species in the genus Flaveria. PLANT MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2022; 110:445-454. [PMID: 35119574 DOI: 10.1007/s11103-022-01246-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2021] [Accepted: 01/21/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
A comparative analysis of the genus Flaveria showed a C4 evolutionary process in which the anatomical and metabolic features of C4 photosynthesis were gradually acquired through C3-C4 intermediate stages. C4 photosynthesis has been acquired in multiple lineages of angiosperms during evolution to suppress photorespiration. Crops that perform C4 photosynthesis exhibit high rates of CO2 assimilation and high grain production even under high-temperature in semiarid environments; therefore, engineering C4 photosynthesis in C3 plants is of great importance in the application field. The genus Flaveria contains a large number of C3, C3-C4 intermediate, C4-like, and C4 species, making it a good model genus to study the evolution of C4 photosynthesis, and these studies indicate the direction for C4 engineering. C4 photosynthesis was acquired gradually through the C3-C4 intermediate stage. First, a two-celled C2 cycle called C2 photosynthesis was acquired by localizing glycine decarboxylase activity in the mitochondria of bundle sheath cells. With the development of two-cell metabolism, anatomical features also changed. Next, the replacement of the two-celled C2 cycle by the two-celled C4 cycle was induced by the acquisition of cell-selective expression in addition to the upregulation of enzymes in the C4 cycle during the C3-C4 intermediate stage. This was supported by an increase in cyclic electron transport activity in response to an increase in the ATP/NADPH demand for metabolism. Suppression of the C3 cycle in mesophyll cells was induced after the functional establishment of the C4 cycle, and optimization of electron transport by suppressing the activity of photosystem II also occurred during the final phase of C4 evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuri N Munekage
- School of Science and Technology, Kwansei Gakuin University, 2-1 Gakuen, Sanda, Hyogo, 669-1337, Japan.
| | - Yukimi Y Taniguchi
- School of Science and Technology, Kwansei Gakuin University, 2-1 Gakuen, Sanda, Hyogo, 669-1337, Japan
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19
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Paclobutrazol Ameliorates Low-Light-Induced Damage by Improving Photosynthesis, Antioxidant Defense System, and Regulating Hormone Levels in Tall Fescue. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms23179966. [PMID: 36077362 PMCID: PMC9456200 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23179966] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2022] [Revised: 08/25/2022] [Accepted: 08/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Paclobutrazol (PBZ) is a plant-growth regulator (PGR) in the triazole family that enhances plant tolerance to environmental stresses. Low-light (LL) intensity is a critical factor adversely affecting the growth of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.). Therefore, in this study, tall fescue seedlings were treated with PBZ under control and LL conditions to investigate the effects of PBZ on enhancing LL stress resistance by regulating the growth, photosynthesis, oxidative defense, and hormone levels. Our results reveal that LL stress reduced the total biomass, chlorophyll (Chl) content, photosynthetic capacity, and photochemical efficiency of photosystem II (PSII) but increased the membrane lipid peroxidation level and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. However, the application of PBZ increased the photosynthetic pigment contents, net photosynthetic rate (Pn), maximum quantum yield of PSII photochemistry (Fv/Fm), ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (RuBisCO) activity, and starch content. In addition, PBZ treatment activated the antioxidant enzyme activities, antioxidants contents, ascorbate acid-glutathione (AsA-GSH) cycle, and related gene expression, lessening the ROS burst (H2O2 and O2∙−). However, the gibberellic acid (GA) anabolism was remarkably decreased by PBZ treatment under LL stress, downregulating the transcript levels of kaurene oxidase (KO), kaurenoic acid oxidase (KAO), and GA 20-oxidases (GA20ox). At the same time, PBZ treatment up-regulated 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED) gene expression, significantly increasing the endogenous abscisic acid (ABA) concentration under LL stress. Thus, our study revealed that PBZ improves the antioxidation and photosynthetic capacity, meanwhile increasing the ABA concentration and decreasing GA concentration, which ultimately enhances the LL stress tolerance in tall fescue.
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20
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Medeiros DB, Ishihara H, Guenther M, Rosado de Souza L, Fernie AR, Stitt M, Arrivault S. 13CO2 labeling kinetics in maize reveal impaired efficiency of C4 photosynthesis under low irradiance. PLANT PHYSIOLOGY 2022; 190:280-304. [PMID: 35751609 PMCID: PMC9434203 DOI: 10.1093/plphys/kiac306] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2022] [Accepted: 06/06/2022] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
C4 photosynthesis allows faster photosynthetic rates and higher water and nitrogen use efficiency than C3 photosynthesis, but at the cost of lower quantum yield due to the energy requirement of its biochemical carbon concentration mechanism. It has also been suspected that its operation may be impaired in low irradiance. To investigate fluxes under moderate and low irradiance, maize (Zea mays) was grown at 550 µmol photons m-2 s-l and 13CO2 pulse-labeling was performed at growth irradiance or several hours after transfer to 160 µmol photons m-2 s-1. Analysis by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry or gas chromatography/mass spectrometry provided information about pool size and labeling kinetics for 32 metabolites and allowed estimation of flux at many steps in C4 photosynthesis. The results highlighted several sources of inefficiency in low light. These included excess flux at phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase, restriction of decarboxylation by NADP-malic enzyme, and a shift to increased CO2 incorporation into aspartate, less effective use of metabolite pools to drive intercellular shuttles, and higher relative and absolute rates of photorespiration. The latter provides evidence for a lower bundle sheath CO2 concentration in low irradiance, implying that operation of the CO2 concentration mechanism is impaired in this condition. The analyses also revealed rapid exchange of carbon between the Calvin-Benson cycle and the CO2-concentration shuttle, which allows rapid adjustment of the balance between CO2 concentration and assimilation, and accumulation of large amounts of photorespiratory intermediates in low light that provides a major carbon reservoir to build up C4 metabolite pools when irradiance increases.
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Affiliation(s)
- David B Medeiros
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Hirofumi Ishihara
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Manuela Guenther
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | | | - Alisdair R Fernie
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Mark Stitt
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Stéphanie Arrivault
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
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21
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Takao K, Shirakura H, Hatakeyama Y, Ueno O. Salt stress induces Kranz anatomy and expression of C 4 photosynthetic enzymes in the amphibious sedge Eleocharis vivipara. PHOTOSYNTHESIS RESEARCH 2022; 153:93-102. [PMID: 35352232 DOI: 10.1007/s11120-022-00913-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2021] [Accepted: 03/10/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Eleocharis vivipara Link is a unique amphibious leafless plant of the Cyperaceae. The terrestrial form develops culms with Kranz anatomy and C4-like traits, while the submerged form does culms with non-Kranz anatomy and C3 traits. The submerged form develops new culms with C4-like mode when exposed to air or exogenous abscisic acid. In this study, we investigated whether salt stress (0.05-0.3 M NaCl) has a similar effect. When the submerged form was grown for one month in solutions of 0.1 M NaCl and more, culm growth was strongly suppressed. However, these plants slowly developed new culms that had Kranz anatomy with chloroplast-abundant Kranz bundle sheath cells. Although the culms of the submerged form had only few stomata, culms grown in the NaCl solution had many stomata. The NaCl-grown culms also accumulated large amounts of C4 photosynthetic enzymes (phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase and pyruvate Pi dikinase), and the cellular localization patterns of these enzymes and ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase were similar to those in terrestrial culms. Accumulation of C4 enzymes increased in mature culms of the submerged form (with non-Kranz anatomy) when exposed to 0.2 M NaCl solution for one week. These results suggest that salt stress induces development of Kranz anatomy and expression of C4 photosynthetic enzymes in the submerged C3 form of E. vivipara, whereas the anatomical and biochemical traits of C4 photosynthesis appear to be regulated independently.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kazuya Takao
- Graduate School of Bioresources and Environmental Sciences, Kyushu University, Motooka, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan
| | - Hiroko Shirakura
- School of Agriculture, Kyushu University, Motooka, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan
| | - Yuto Hatakeyama
- Graduate School of Bioresources and Environmental Sciences, Kyushu University, Motooka, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan
| | - Osamu Ueno
- Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, Motooka, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan.
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22
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Late Cretaceous through Cenozoic Paleoenvironmental History of the Bagua Basin, Peru: Paleoelevation Comparisons with the Central Andean Plateau. GEOSCIENCES 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/geosciences12060242] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/10/2022]
Abstract
Located in northern Peru, at the lowest segment of the Central Andes, the Bagua Basin contains a Campanian to Pleistocene sedimentary record that archives the local paleoenvironmental and tectonic history. We present new δ18O and δ13C signatures of pedogenic carbonate nodules from paleosols in the Campanian–Maastrichtian Fundo El Triunfo Formation and in the upper Eocene–middle Miocene Sambimera Formation to reconstruct the isotopic composition of paleo-meteoric water and the floristic biome. We compare these results to modern isotopic values from a newly obtained modern water transect to interpret the environmental evolution of this area and its relationship with the neighboring Eastern Cordillera. A ~2‰ δ18O depletion between the latest Cretaceous and the latest Eocene reflects a shift from a coastal to inland environment. A negative δ18O shift of ~3‰ from the middle Miocene to the present day reveals the establishment of the Eastern Cordillera as an orographic barrier for the moisture traveling westward, sometime after deposition of the top of the Sambimera Formation at ~13 Ma. A shift in the δ13C signature from ~−25‰ in the Campanian–Miocene deposits to ~−23‰ in modern–Holocene times suggests a change in biome from dominant C3 plants to a mixture of C3 and C4 plants. This environmental shift reflects both the late Miocene global C4 expansion and the transition to more arid conditions in the basin. The Campanian–middle Miocene environmental reconstruction of the Bagua Basin indicates a steady paleoelevation setting in the northernmost Central Andes during most of the Cenozoic and constrains the uplift of the Eastern Cordillera to the late Miocene–Pleistocene. This paleoelevation history contrasts with that of the Central Andean Plateau, which is characterized by two major episodes of surface uplift: early–middle Miocene and late Miocene–Pliocene. The contrasting modern topographic configuration of the Central Andean Plateau and the northernmost Central Andes gives rise to the question of what factors created such a dramatic difference in topographic evolution of the two regions that shared an overall common tectonic history. We discuss the possible factors responsible for this contrasting topographic configuration and suggest that the diachronous flat slab episodes are likely a major factor, resulting in greater shortening and crustal thickness and, ultimately, in earlier surface uplift episodes occurring in the Central Andean Plateau.
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Capó-Bauçà S, Iñiguez C, Aguiló-Nicolau P, Galmés J. Correlative adaptation between Rubisco and CO 2-concentrating mechanisms in seagrasses. NATURE PLANTS 2022; 8:706-716. [PMID: 35729266 DOI: 10.1038/s41477-022-01171-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2021] [Accepted: 05/13/2022] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
Submerged angiosperms sustain some of the most productive and diverse ecosystems worldwide. However, their carbon acquisition and assimilation mechanisms remain poorly explored, missing an important step in the evolution of photosynthesis during the colonization of aquatic environments by angiosperms. Here we reveal a convergent kinetic adaptation of Rubisco in phylogenetically distant seagrass species that share catalytic efficiencies and CO2 and O2 affinities up to three times lower than those observed in phylogenetically closer angiosperms from terrestrial, freshwater and brackish-water habitats. This Rubisco kinetic convergence was found to correlate with the effectiveness of seagrass CO2-concentrating mechanisms (CCMs), which probably evolved in response to the constant CO2 limitation in marine environments. The observed Rubisco kinetic adaptation in seagrasses more closely resembles that seen in eukaryotic algae operating CCMs rather than that reported in terrestrial C4 plants. Our results thus demonstrate a general pattern of co-evolution between Rubisco function and biophysical CCM effectiveness that traverses distantly related aquatic lineages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastià Capó-Bauçà
- Research Group on Plant Biology under Mediterranean Conditions, Universitat de les Illes Balears-INAGEA, Palma, Spain
| | - Concepción Iñiguez
- Research Group on Plant Biology under Mediterranean Conditions, Universitat de les Illes Balears-INAGEA, Palma, Spain.
| | - Pere Aguiló-Nicolau
- Research Group on Plant Biology under Mediterranean Conditions, Universitat de les Illes Balears-INAGEA, Palma, Spain
| | - Jeroni Galmés
- Research Group on Plant Biology under Mediterranean Conditions, Universitat de les Illes Balears-INAGEA, Palma, Spain
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Tefarikis DT, Morales-Briones DF, Yang Y, Edwards G, Kadereit G. On the hybrid origin of the C 2 Salsola divaricata agg. (Amaranthaceae) from C 3 and C 4 parental lineages. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2022; 234:1876-1890. [PMID: 35288945 DOI: 10.1111/nph.18098] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2021] [Accepted: 03/01/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
C2 photosynthesis is characterised using recapturing photorespiratory CO2 by RuBisCo in Kranz-like cells and is therefore physiologically intermediate between C3 and C4 photosynthesis. C2 can be interpreted as an evolutionary precursor of C4 and/or as the result of hybridisation between a C3 and C4 lineage. We compared the expression of photosynthetic traits among populations of the Salsola divaricata agg. (C2 ) from humid subtropical to arid habitats on the coasts of the Canary Islands and Morocco and subjected them to salt and drought treatments. We screened for enhanced C4 -like expression of traits related to habitat or treatment. We estimated species trees with a transcriptome dataset of Salsoleae and explored patterns of gene tree discordance. With phylogenetic networks and hybridisation analyses we tested for the hybrid origin of the Salsola divaricata agg. We observed distinct independent variation of photosynthetic traits within and among populations and no clear evidence for selection towards C4 -like trait expression in more stressful habitats or treatments. We found reticulation and gene tree incongruence in Salsoleae supporting a putative hybrid origin of the Salsola divaricata agg. C2 photosynthesis in the Salsola divaricata agg. combines traits inherited from its C3 and C4 parental lineages and seems evolutionarily stable, possibly well adapted to a wide climatic amplitude.
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Affiliation(s)
- Delphine T Tefarikis
- AG Biodiversity and Evolution of Plants, Institute of Molecular Physiology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55099, Mainz, Germany
| | - Diego F Morales-Briones
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, St Paul, MN, 55108, USA
- Princess Therese von Bayern Chair of Systematics, Biodiversity and Evolution of Plants, Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, 80638, Munich, Germany
| | - Ya Yang
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, St Paul, MN, 55108, USA
| | - Gerald Edwards
- School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164, USA
| | - Gudrun Kadereit
- AG Biodiversity and Evolution of Plants, Institute of Molecular Physiology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55099, Mainz, Germany
- Princess Therese von Bayern Chair of Systematics, Biodiversity and Evolution of Plants, Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, 80638, Munich, Germany
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25
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Young SNR, Dunning LT, Liu H, Stevens CJ, Lundgren MR. C4 trees have a broader niche than their close C3 relatives. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY 2022; 73:3189-3204. [PMID: 35293994 PMCID: PMC9126736 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erac113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2021] [Accepted: 03/12/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Previous studies have demonstrated the ecological sorting of herbaceous C3 and C4 species along gradients of precipitation and temperature: C4 herbaceous species typically occupy drier and warmer environments than their C3 relatives. However, it is unclear if this pattern holds true for C4 tree species, which are unique to Euphorbiaceae and found only on the Hawaiian Islands. Here, we combine occurrence data with local environmental and soil datasets to, for the first time, distinguish the ecological factors associated with photosynthetic diversification in the tree life form. These data are presented within a phylogenetic framework. We show that C3 and C4 trees inhabit similar environments, but that C4 photosynthesis expands the ecological niche in trees relative to that of C3 tree species. In particular, when compared with C3 trees, C4 trees moved into higher elevation habitats with characteristically sparse vegetation (and thus greater sunlight) and cooler temperatures, a pattern which contrasts with that of herbaceous species. Understanding the relationship between C4 photosynthesis and ecological niche in tree species has implications for establishing how C4 photosynthesis has, in this rare instance, evolved in trees, and whether this unique combination of traits could be exploited from an engineering perspective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophie N R Young
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK
| | - Luke T Dunning
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
| | - Hui Liu
- Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xingke Road 723, Guangzhou 510650, China
| | - Carly J Stevens
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK
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Borghi GL, Arrivault S, Günther M, Barbosa Medeiros D, Dell’Aversana E, Fusco GM, Carillo P, Ludwig M, Fernie AR, Lunn JE, Stitt M. Metabolic profiles in C3, C3-C4 intermediate, C4-like, and C4 species in the genus Flaveria. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY 2022; 73:1581-1601. [PMID: 34910813 PMCID: PMC8890617 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erab540] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2021] [Accepted: 12/14/2021] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
C4 photosynthesis concentrates CO2 around Rubisco in the bundle sheath, favouring carboxylation over oxygenation and decreasing photorespiration. This complex trait evolved independently in >60 angiosperm lineages. Its evolution can be investigated in genera such as Flaveria (Asteraceae) that contain species representing intermediate stages between C3 and C4 photosynthesis. Previous studies have indicated that the first major change in metabolism probably involved relocation of glycine decarboxylase and photorespiratory CO2 release to the bundle sheath and establishment of intercellular shuttles to maintain nitrogen stoichiometry. This was followed by selection for a CO2-concentrating cycle between phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase in the mesophyll and decarboxylases in the bundle sheath, and relocation of Rubisco to the latter. We have profiled 52 metabolites in nine Flaveria species and analysed 13CO2 labelling patterns for four species. Our results point to operation of multiple shuttles, including movement of aspartate in C3-C4 intermediates and a switch towards a malate/pyruvate shuttle in C4-like species. The malate/pyruvate shuttle increases from C4-like to complete C4 species, accompanied by a rise in ancillary organic acid pools. Our findings support current models and uncover further modifications of metabolism along the evolutionary path to C4 photosynthesis in the genus Flaveria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gian Luca Borghi
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Stéphanie Arrivault
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
- Correspondence:
| | - Manuela Günther
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - David Barbosa Medeiros
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Emilia Dell’Aversana
- Universitá degli Studi della Campania, Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Ambientali, Biologiche e Farmaceutiche, Via Vivaldi 43, 81100 Caserta, Italy
| | - Giovanna Marta Fusco
- Universitá degli Studi della Campania, Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Ambientali, Biologiche e Farmaceutiche, Via Vivaldi 43, 81100 Caserta, Italy
| | - Petronia Carillo
- Universitá degli Studi della Campania, Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Ambientali, Biologiche e Farmaceutiche, Via Vivaldi 43, 81100 Caserta, Italy
| | - Martha Ludwig
- The University of Western Australia, School of Molecular Sciences, 35 Stirling Highway, 6009 Perth, Australia
| | - Alisdair R Fernie
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - John E Lunn
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Mark Stitt
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
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Oono J, Hatakeyama Y, Yabiku T, Ueno O. Effects of growth temperature and nitrogen nutrition on expression of C 3-C 4 intermediate traits in Chenopodium album. JOURNAL OF PLANT RESEARCH 2022; 135:15-27. [PMID: 34519912 DOI: 10.1007/s10265-021-01346-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2021] [Accepted: 09/06/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Proto-Kranz plants represent an initial phase in the evolution from C3 to C3-C4 intermediate to C4 plants. The ecological and adaptive aspects of C3-C4 plants would provide an important clue to understand the evolution of C3-C4 plants. We investigated whether growth temperature and nitrogen (N) nutrition influence the expression of C3-C4 traits in Chenopodium album (proto-Kranz) in comparison with Chenopodium quinoa (C3). Plants were grown during 5 weeks at 20 or 30 °C under standard or low N supply levels (referred to as 20SN, 20LN, 30SN, and 30LN). Net photosynthetic rate and leaf N content were higher in 20SN and 30SN plants than in 20LN and 30LN plants of C. album but did not differ among growth conditions in C. quinoa. The CO2 compensation point (Γ) of C. album was lowest in 30LN plants (36 µmol mol-1), highest in 20SN plants (51 µmol mol-1), and intermediate in 20LN and 30SN plants, whereas Γ of C. quinoa did not differ among the growth conditions (51-52 µmol mol-1). The anatomical structure of leaves was not considerably affected by growth conditions in either species. However, ultrastructural observations in C. album showed that the number of mitochondria per mesophyll or bundle sheath (BS) cell was lower in 20LN and 30LN plants than in 20SN and 30SN plants. Immunohistochemical observations revealed that lower accumulation level of P-protein of glycine decarboxylase (GDC-P) in mesophyll mitochondria than in BS mitochondria is the major factor causing the decrease in Γ values in C. album plants grown under low N supply and high temperature. These results suggest that high growth temperature and low N supply lead to the expression of C3-C4 traits (the reduction of Γ) in the proto-Kranz plants of C. album through the regulation of GDC-P expression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jemin Oono
- Graduate School of Bioresource and Bioenvironmental Sciences, Kyushu University, Motooka 744, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan
| | - Yuto Hatakeyama
- Graduate School of Bioresource and Bioenvironmental Sciences, Kyushu University, Motooka 744, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan
| | - Takayuki Yabiku
- Graduate School of Bioresource and Bioenvironmental Sciences, Kyushu University, Motooka 744, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan
| | - Osamu Ueno
- Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, Motooka 744, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan.
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de Deus Vidal J, le Roux PC, Johnson SD, te Beest M, Clark VR. Beyond the Tree-Line: The C3-C4 “Grass-Line” Can Track Global Change in the World’s Grassy Mountain Systems. Front Ecol Evol 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.760118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
von Humboldt’s tree-line concept has dominated mountain ecology for almost two hundred years, and is considered a key indicator for monitoring change in biome boundaries and biodiversity shifts under climate change. Even though the concept of life zones and elevation gradients are a globally observed phenomenon, they have not been thoroughly explored for many contexts. One such example is the tree-line ecotone, a widely used conceptual tool to track climate change in many regions, which has limited application in the widespread tree-sparse, grassy systems that comprise a third of the world’s mountain systems. Among grasses (Poaceae), temperature is linked to variation in photosynthetic performance and community dominance for C3 and C4 metabolic groups, due to its role in limiting photorespiration in the C3 photosynthesis process. Here, we investigate this community shift in grassland-dominated mountains to demonstrate the role of climate in driving this transition and discuss the potential applications of this tool to mountain ecosystem conservation worldwide. For identifying grass-dominated mountains worldwide, we measured the grass-cover using satellite data. We then compiled Poaceae distribution data for ten grass-dominated mountains spanning from 42°S to 41°N and determined the temperature intervals and elevation ranges at which each genus was found, testing for effects of temperature, precipitation, and latitudinal gradients on the dominance of C3-C4 grasses. Temperature was the main driver of C3 dominance, with the richness of C3 genera tending to surpass the taxonomic dominance of C4 plants along mountain temperature gradients where the annual mean temperature was colder than ca. 14.6°C. Similar patterns were observed in eight out of ten mountains, suggesting that this may constitute an isotherm-driven ecotone. Consequently, this C3-C4 transition offers a promising tool for monitoring climate change impacts in grassy mountains. C3-C4 grass community shifts in response to environmental change will likely have major implications for fire frequency and severity, rangeland productivity and livelihoods, food security, and water budgets in mountain systems. Given the severity of the implications of global change on these social-ecological systems, we propose that a “grass-line” monitoring protocol be developed for global application.
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Johnson JE, Field CB, Berry JA. The limiting factors and regulatory processes that control the environmental responses of C 3, C 3-C 4 intermediate, and C 4 photosynthesis. Oecologia 2021; 197:841-866. [PMID: 34714387 PMCID: PMC8591018 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-021-05062-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2020] [Accepted: 10/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Here, we describe a model of C3, C3-C4 intermediate, and C4 photosynthesis that is designed to facilitate quantitative analysis of physiological measurements. The model relates the factors limiting electron transport and carbon metabolism, the regulatory processes that coordinate these metabolic domains, and the responses to light, carbon dioxide, and temperature. It has three unique features. First, mechanistic expressions describe how the cytochrome b6f complex controls electron transport in mesophyll and bundle sheath chloroplasts. Second, the coupling between the mesophyll and bundle sheath expressions represents how feedback regulation of Cyt b6f coordinates electron transport and carbon metabolism. Third, the temperature sensitivity of Cyt b6f is differentiated from that of the coupling between NADPH, Fd, and ATP production. Using this model, we present simulations demonstrating that the light dependence of the carbon dioxide compensation point in C3-C4 leaves can be explained by co-occurrence of light saturation in the mesophyll and light limitation in the bundle sheath. We also present inversions demonstrating that population-level variation in the carbon dioxide compensation point in a Type I C3-C4 plant, Flaveria chloraefolia, can be explained by variable allocation of photosynthetic capacity to the bundle sheath. These results suggest that Type I C3-C4 intermediate plants adjust pigment and protein distributions to optimize the glycine shuttle under different light and temperature regimes, and that the malate and aspartate shuttles may have originally functioned to smooth out the energy supply and demand associated with the glycine shuttle. This model has a wide range of potential applications to physiological, ecological, and evolutionary questions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer E Johnson
- Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, 260 Panama Street, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
| | - Christopher B Field
- Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, 260 Panama Street, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
- Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, 473 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Joseph A Berry
- Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, 260 Panama Street, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
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Siadjeu C, Lauterbach M, Kadereit G. Insights into Regulation of C 2 and C 4 Photosynthesis in Amaranthaceae/ Chenopodiaceae Using RNA-Seq. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:12120. [PMID: 34830004 PMCID: PMC8624041 DOI: 10.3390/ijms222212120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2021] [Revised: 11/02/2021] [Accepted: 11/03/2021] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Amaranthaceae (incl. Chenopodiaceae) shows an immense diversity of C4 syndromes. More than 15 independent origins of C4 photosynthesis, and the largest number of C4 species in eudicots signify the importance of this angiosperm lineage in C4 evolution. Here, we conduct RNA-Seq followed by comparative transcriptome analysis of three species from Camphorosmeae representing related clades with different photosynthetic types: Threlkeldia diffusa (C3), Sedobassia sedoides (C2), and Bassia prostrata (C4). Results show that B. prostrata belongs to the NADP-ME type and core genes encoding for C4 cycle are significantly upregulated when compared with Sed. sedoides and T. diffusa. Sedobassia sedoides and B. prostrata share a number of upregulated C4-related genes; however, two C4 transporters (DIT and TPT) are found significantly upregulated only in Sed. sedoides. Combined analysis of transcription factors (TFs) of the closely related lineages (Camphorosmeae and Salsoleae) revealed that no C3-specific TFs are higher in C2 species compared with C4 species; instead, the C2 species show their own set of upregulated TFs. Taken together, our study indicates that the hypothesis of the C2 photosynthesis as a proxy towards C4 photosynthesis is questionable in Sed. sedoides and more in favour of an independent evolutionary stable state.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Siadjeu
- Systematics, Biodiversity and Evolution of Plants, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, 80638 Munich, Germany;
| | | | - Gudrun Kadereit
- Systematics, Biodiversity and Evolution of Plants, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, 80638 Munich, Germany;
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da Silva VCH, Martins MCM, Calderan-Rodrigues MJ, Artins A, Monte Bello CC, Gupta S, Sobreira TJP, Riaño-Pachón DM, Mafra V, Caldana C. Shedding Light on the Dynamic Role of the "Target of Rapamycin" Kinase in the Fast-Growing C 4 Species Setaria viridis, a Suitable Model for Biomass Crops. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2021; 12:637508. [PMID: 33927734 PMCID: PMC8078139 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2021.637508] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2020] [Accepted: 03/04/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The Target of Rapamycin (TOR) kinase pathway integrates energy and nutrient availability into metabolism promoting growth in eukaryotes. The overall higher efficiency on nutrient use translated into faster growth rates in C4 grass plants led to the investigation of differential transcriptional and metabolic responses to short-term chemical TOR complex (TORC) suppression in the model Setaria viridis. In addition to previously described responses to TORC inhibition (i.e., general growth arrest, translational repression, and primary metabolism reprogramming) in Arabidopsis thaliana (C3), the magnitude of changes was smaller in S. viridis, particularly regarding nutrient use efficiency and C allocation and partitioning that promote biosynthetic growth. Besides photosynthetic differences, S. viridis and A. thaliana present several specificities that classify them into distinct lineages, which also contribute to the observed alterations mediated by TOR. Indeed, cell wall metabolism seems to be distinctly regulated according to each cell wall type, as synthesis of non-pectic polysaccharides were affected in S. viridis, whilst assembly and structure in A. thaliana. Our results indicate that the metabolic network needed to achieve faster growth seems to be less stringently controlled by TORC in S. viridis.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Anthony Artins
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | | | - Saurabh Gupta
- Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | | | | | - Valéria Mafra
- National Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), Campinas, Brazil
| | - Camila Caldana
- National Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), Campinas, Brazil
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Russ Monson and the evolution of C 4 photosynthesis. Oecologia 2021; 197:823-840. [PMID: 33661402 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-021-04883-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2020] [Accepted: 02/12/2021] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Early in his career, Russ Monson produced a series of influential eco-physiological papers that helped lay the foundation for the study of C4 plant evolution. Among the most important was a 1984 paper with Maurice Ku and Gerry Edwards that outlined the pathway for the evolutionary bridge from C3 to C4 photosynthesis. This model proposed C4 photosynthesis arose out of a shuttle that imported photorespiratory metabolites into bundle sheath (BS) cells, where glycine decarboxylase cleaved off CO2, allowing it to accumulate and be efficiently refixed by BS Rubisco. By the mid-1990's, Monson's research focus had shifted away from C4 plants, save for one 2003 paper on C3 versus C4 stomatal control with Travis Huxman, and a series of critical reviews on C4 evolution. These reviews heavily influenced the modern synthesis of C4 evolutionary studies, which incorporates phylogenomic understanding with physiological, molecular, and structural characterizations of trait shifts in multiple evolutionary lineages. Subsequent research supported the Monson et al. model from 1984, by showing a glycine shuttle occurs in nearly all C3-C4 intermediate species identified. Monson also examined the physiological controls over the ecological distribution of C3, C3-C4 intermediate, and C4 photosynthesis, building our understanding of the fitness value of the intermediate and C4 pathway in relevant microenvironments. By establishing the foundation for discoveries that followed, Russ Monson can rightly be considered a leading pioneer contributing to the evolutionary biology of C4 photosynthesis.
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Cummins PL. The Coevolution of RuBisCO, Photorespiration, and Carbon Concentrating Mechanisms in Higher Plants. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2021; 12:662425. [PMID: 34539685 PMCID: PMC8440988 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2021.662425] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2021] [Accepted: 07/26/2021] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO) is the carbon-fixing enzyme present in most photosynthetic organisms, converting CO2 into organic matter. Globally, photosynthetic efficiency in terrestrial plants has become increasingly challenged in recent decades due to a rapid increase in atmospheric CO2 and associated changes toward warmer and dryer environments. Well adapted for these new climatic conditions, the C4 photosynthetic pathway utilizes carbon concentrating mechanisms to increase CO2 concentrations surrounding RuBisCO, suppressing photorespiration from the oxygenase catalyzed reaction with O2. The energy efficiency of C3 photosynthesis, from which the C4 pathway evolved, is thought to rely critically on an uninterrupted supply of chloroplast CO2. Part of the homeostatic mechanism that maintains this constancy of supply involves the CO2 produced as a byproduct of photorespiration in a negative feedback loop. Analyzing the database of RuBisCO kinetic parameters, we suggest that in genera (Flaveria and Panicum) for which both C3 and C4 examples are available, the C4 pathway evolved only from C3 ancestors possessing much lower than the average carboxylase specificity relative to that of the oxygenase reaction (S C/O=S C/S O), and hence, the higher CO2 levels required for development of the photorespiratory CO2 pump (C2 photosynthesis) essential in the initial stages of C4 evolution, while in the later stage (final optimization phase in the Flaveria model) increased CO2 turnover may have occurred, which would have been supported by the higher CO2 levels. Otherwise, C4 RuBisCO kinetic traits remain little changed from the ancestral C3 species. At the opposite end of the spectrum, C3 plants (from Limonium) with higher than average S C/O, which may be associated with the ability of increased CO2, relative to O2, affinity to offset reduced photorespiration and chloroplast CO2 levels, can tolerate high stress environments. It is suggested that, instead of inherently constrained by its kinetic mechanism, RuBisCO possesses the extensive kinetic plasticity necessary for adaptation to changes in photorespiration that occur in the homeostatic regulation of CO2 supply under a broad range of abiotic environmental conditions.
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Calderan-Rodrigues MJ, de Barros Dantas LL, Cheavegatti Gianotto A, Caldana C. Applying Molecular Phenotyping Tools to Explore Sugarcane Carbon Potential. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2021; 12:637166. [PMID: 33679852 PMCID: PMC7935522 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2021.637166] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2020] [Accepted: 01/27/2021] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
Sugarcane (Saccharum spp.), a C4 grass, has a peculiar feature: it accumulates, gradient-wise, large amounts of carbon (C) as sucrose in its culms through a complex pathway. Apart from being a sustainable crop concerning C efficiency and bioenergetic yield per hectare, sugarcane is used as feedstock for producing ethanol, sugar, high-value compounds, and products (e.g., polymers and succinate), and bioelectricity, earning the title of the world's leading biomass crop. Commercial cultivars, hybrids bearing high levels of polyploidy, and aneuploidy, are selected from a large number of crosses among suitable parental genotypes followed by the cloning of superior individuals among the progeny. Traditionally, these classical breeding strategies have been favoring the selection of cultivars with high sucrose content and resistance to environmental stresses. A current paradigm change in sugarcane breeding programs aims to alter the balance of C partitioning as a means to provide more plasticity in the sustainable use of this biomass for metabolic engineering and green chemistry. The recently available sugarcane genetic assemblies powered by data science provide exciting perspectives to increase biomass, as the current sugarcane yield is roughly 20% of its predicted potential. Nowadays, several molecular phenotyping tools can be applied to meet the predicted sugarcane C potential, mainly targeting two competing pathways: sucrose production/storage and biomass accumulation. Here we discuss how molecular phenotyping can be a powerful tool to assist breeding programs and which strategies could be adopted depending on the desired final products. We also tackle the advances in genetic markers and mapping as well as how functional genomics and genetic transformation might be able to improve yield and saccharification rates. Finally, we review how "omics" advances are promising to speed up plant breeding and reach the unexplored potential of sugarcane in terms of sucrose and biomass production.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Camila Caldana
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam, Germany
- *Correspondence: Camila Caldana,
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Lundgren MR. C 2 photosynthesis: a promising route towards crop improvement? THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2020; 228:1734-1740. [PMID: 32080851 DOI: 10.1111/nph.16494] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2019] [Accepted: 02/08/2020] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
C2 photosynthesis is a carbon concentrating mechanism that can increase net CO2 assimilation by capturing, concentrating and re-assimilating CO2 released by photorespiration. Empirical and modelling studies indicate that C2 plants assimilate more carbon than C3 plants under high temperature, bright light, and low CO2 conditions. I argue that engineering C2 photosynthesis into C3 crops is a promising approach to improve photosynthetic performance under these - and temporally heterogeneous - environments, and review the modifications that may re-create a C2 phenotype in C3 plants. Although a C2 engineering program would encounter many of the same challenges faced by C4 engineering programmes, the simpler leaf anatomical requirements make C2 engineering a feasible approach to improve crops in the medium term.
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Khoshravesh R, Stata M, Adachi S, Sage TL, Sage RF. Evolutionary Convergence of C 4 Photosynthesis: A Case Study in the Nyctaginaceae. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2020; 11:578739. [PMID: 33224166 PMCID: PMC7667235 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2020.578739] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2020] [Accepted: 10/06/2020] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
C4 photosynthesis evolved over 65 times, with around 24 origins in the eudicot order Caryophyllales. In the Caryophyllales family Nyctaginaceae, the C4 pathway is known in three genera of the tribe Nyctagineae: Allionia, Okenia and Boerhavia. Phylogenetically, Allionia and Boerhavia/Okenia are separated by three genera whose photosynthetic pathway is uncertain. To clarify the distribution of photosynthetic pathways in the Nyctaginaceae, we surveyed carbon isotope ratios of 159 species of the Nyctaginaceae, along with bundle sheath (BS) cell ultrastructure, leaf gas exchange, and C4 pathway biochemistry in five species from the two C4 clades and closely related C3 genera. All species in Allionia, Okenia and Boerhavia are C4, while no C4 species occur in any other genera of the family, including three that branch between Allionia and Boerhavia. This demonstrates that C4 photosynthesis evolved twice in Nyctaginaceae. Boerhavia species use the NADP-malic enzyme (NADP-ME) subtype of C4 photosynthesis, while Allionia species use the NAD-malic enzyme (NAD-ME) subtype. The BS cells of Allionia have many more mitochondria than the BS of Boerhavia. Bundle sheath mitochondria are closely associated with chloroplasts in Allionia which facilitates CO2 refixation following decarboxylation by mitochondrial NAD-ME. The close relationship between Allionia and Boerhavia could provide insights into why NADP-ME versus NAD-ME subtypes evolve, particularly when coupled to analysis of their respective genomes. As such, the group is an excellent system to dissect the organizational hierarchy of convergent versus divergent traits produced by C4 evolution, enabling us to understand when convergence is favored versus when divergent modifications can result in a common phenotype.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roxana Khoshravesh
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, The University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Department of Biology, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, United States
| | - Matt Stata
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, The University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Shunsuke Adachi
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, The University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Institute of Global Innovation Research, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Fuchu, Japan
| | - Tammy L. Sage
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, The University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Rowan F. Sage
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, The University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
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Young SNR, Sack L, Sporck-Koehler MJ, Lundgren MR. Why is C4 photosynthesis so rare in trees? JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY 2020; 71:4629-4638. [PMID: 32409834 PMCID: PMC7410182 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/eraa234] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2019] [Accepted: 05/12/2020] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
Since C4 photosynthesis was first discovered >50 years ago, researchers have sought to understand how this complex trait evolved from the ancestral C3 photosynthetic machinery on >60 occasions. Despite its repeated emergence across the plant kingdom, C4 photosynthesis is notably rare in trees, with true C4 trees only existing in Euphorbia. Here we consider aspects of the C4 trait that could limit but not preclude the evolution of a C4 tree, including reduced quantum yield, increased energetic demand, reduced adaptive plasticity, evolutionary constraints, and a new theory that the passive symplastic phloem loading mechanism observed in trees, combined with difficulties in maintaining sugar and water transport over a long pathlength, could make C4 photosynthesis largely incompatible with the tree lifeform. We conclude that the transition to a tree habit within C4 lineages as well as the emergence of C4 photosynthesis within pre-existing trees would both face a series of challenges that together explain the global rarity of C4 photosynthesis in trees. The C4 trees in Euphorbia are therefore exceptional in how they have circumvented every potential barrier to the rare C4 tree lifeform.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophie N R Young
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
| | - Lawren Sack
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | | | - Marjorie R Lundgren
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
- Correspondence:
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Fernie AR, Bauwe H. Wasteful, essential, evolutionary stepping stone? The multiple personalities of the photorespiratory pathway. THE PLANT JOURNAL : FOR CELL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2020; 102:666-677. [PMID: 31904886 DOI: 10.1111/tpj.14669] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2019] [Revised: 11/30/2019] [Accepted: 12/11/2019] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
The photorespiratory pathway, in short photorespiration, is a metabolic repair system that enables the CO2 fixation enzyme Rubisco to sustainably operate in the presence of oxygen, that is, during oxygenic photosynthesis of plants and cyanobacteria. Photorespiration is necessary because an auto-inhibitory metabolite, 2-phosphoglycolate (2PG), is produced when Rubisco binds oxygen instead of CO2 as a substrate and must be removed, to avoid collapse of metabolism, and recycled as efficiently as possible. The basic principle of recycling 2PG very likely evolved several billion years ago in connection with the evolution of oxyphotobacteria. It comprises the multi-step combination of two molecules of 2PG to form 3-phosphoglycerate. The biochemistry of this process dictates that one out of four 2PG carbons is lost as CO2 , which is a long-standing plant breeders' concern because it represents by far the largest fraction of respiratory processes that reduce gross-photosynthesis of major crops down to about 50% and less, lowering potential yields. In addition to the ATP needed for recycling of the 2PG carbon, extra energy is needed for the refixation of liberated equal amounts of ammonia. It is thought that the energy costs of photorespiration have an additional negative impact on crop yields in at least some environments. This paper discusses recent advances concerning the origin and evolution of photorespiration, and gives an overview of contemporary and envisioned strategies to engineer the biochemistry of, or even avoid, photorespiration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alisdair R Fernie
- Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476, Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Hermann Bauwe
- Plant Physiology Department, University of Rostock, Albert-Einstein-Straße 3, D-18051, Rostock, Germany
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Edwards EJ. Evolutionary trajectories, accessibility and other metaphors: the case of C 4 and CAM photosynthesis. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2019; 223:1742-1755. [PMID: 30993711 DOI: 10.1111/nph.15851] [Citation(s) in RCA: 77] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2018] [Accepted: 03/18/2019] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Are evolutionary outcomes predictable? Adaptations that show repeated evolutionary convergence across the Tree of Life provide a special opportunity to dissect the context surrounding their origins, and identify any commonalities that may predict why certain traits evolved many times in particular clades and yet never evolved in others. The remarkable convergence of C4 and Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM) photosynthesis in vascular plants makes them exceptional model systems for understanding the repeated evolution of complex phenotypes. This review highlights what we have learned about the recurring assembly of C4 and CAM, focusing on the increasingly predictable stepwise evolutionary integration of anatomy and biochemistry. With the caveat that we currently understand C4 evolution better than we do CAM, I propose a general model that explains and unites C4 and CAM evolutionary trajectories. Available data suggest that anatomical modifications are the 'rate-limiting step' in each trajectory, which in large part determines the evolutionary accessibility of both syndromes. The idea that organismal structure exerts a primary influence on innovation is discussed in the context of other systems. Whether the rate-limiting step occurs early or late in the evolutionary assembly of a new phenotype may have profound implications for its distribution across the Tree of Life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erika J Edwards
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, 165 Prospect St, New Haven, CT, 06520-8105, USA
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Jobe TO, Zenzen I, Rahimzadeh Karvansara P, Kopriva S. Integration of sulfate assimilation with carbon and nitrogen metabolism in transition from C3 to C4 photosynthesis. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY 2019; 70:4211-4221. [PMID: 31124557 PMCID: PMC6698703 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erz250] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2019] [Accepted: 05/21/2019] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
The first product of sulfate assimilation in plants, cysteine, is a proteinogenic amino acid and a source of reduced sulfur for plant metabolism. Cysteine synthesis is the convergence point of the three major pathways of primary metabolism: carbon, nitrate, and sulfate assimilation. Despite the importance of metabolic and genetic coordination of these three pathways for nutrient balance in plants, the molecular mechanisms underlying this coordination, and the sensors and signals, are far from being understood. This is even more apparent in C4 plants, where coordination of these pathways for cysteine synthesis includes the additional challenge of differential spatial localization. Here we review the coordination of sulfate, nitrate, and carbon assimilation, and show how they are altered in C4 plants. We then summarize current knowledge of the mechanisms of coordination of these pathways. Finally, we identify urgent questions to be addressed in order to understand the integration of sulfate assimilation with carbon and nitrogen metabolism particularly in C4 plants. We consider answering these questions to be a prerequisite for successful engineering of C4 photosynthesis into C3 crops to increase their efficiency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy O Jobe
- Botanical Institute and Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Ivan Zenzen
- Botanical Institute and Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Parisa Rahimzadeh Karvansara
- Botanical Institute and Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran
| | - Stanislav Kopriva
- Botanical Institute and Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
- Correspondence:
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Dunning LT, Moreno-Villena JJ, Lundgren MR, Dionora J, Salazar P, Adams C, Nyirenda F, Olofsson JK, Mapaura A, Grundy IM, Kayombo CJ, Dunning LA, Kentatchime F, Ariyarathne M, Yakandawala D, Besnard G, Quick WP, Bräutigam A, Osborne CP, Christin PA. Key changes in gene expression identified for different stages of C4 evolution in Alloteropsis semialata. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY 2019; 70:3255-3268. [PMID: 30949663 PMCID: PMC6598098 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erz149] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2018] [Accepted: 03/19/2019] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
C4 photosynthesis is a complex trait that boosts productivity in tropical conditions. Compared with C3 species, the C4 state seems to require numerous novelties, but species comparisons can be confounded by long divergence times. Here, we exploit the photosynthetic diversity that exists within a single species, the grass Alloteropsis semialata, to detect changes in gene expression associated with different photosynthetic phenotypes. Phylogenetically informed comparative transcriptomics show that intermediates with a weak C4 cycle are separated from the C3 phenotype by increases in the expression of 58 genes (0.22% of genes expressed in the leaves), including those encoding just three core C4 enzymes: aspartate aminotransferase, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase. The subsequent transition to full C4 physiology was accompanied by increases in another 15 genes (0.06%), including only the core C4 enzyme pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase. These changes probably created a rudimentary C4 physiology, and isolated populations subsequently improved this emerging C4 physiology, resulting in a patchwork of expression for some C4 accessory genes. Our work shows how C4 assembly in A. semialata happened in incremental steps, each requiring few alterations over the previous step. These create short bridges across adaptive landscapes that probably facilitated the recurrent origins of C4 photosynthesis through a gradual process of evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luke T Dunning
- Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, UK
| | | | - Marjorie R Lundgren
- Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, UK
| | | | - Paolo Salazar
- International Rice Research Institute, DAPO, Metro Manila, Philippines
| | - Claire Adams
- Botany Department, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa
| | - Florence Nyirenda
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia
| | - Jill K Olofsson
- Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, UK
| | | | - Isla M Grundy
- Institute of Environmental Studies, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe
| | | | - Lucy A Dunning
- Department of Social Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | | | - Menaka Ariyarathne
- Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya, Peradeiya, Sri Lanka
| | - Deepthi Yakandawala
- Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya, Peradeiya, Sri Lanka
| | - Guillaume Besnard
- Laboratoire Évolution et Diversité Biologique (EDB UMR5174), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, IRD, UPS, Toulouse, France
| | - W Paul Quick
- Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, UK
- International Rice Research Institute, DAPO, Metro Manila, Philippines
| | | | - Colin P Osborne
- Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, UK
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Stata M, Sage TL, Sage RF. Mind the gap: the evolutionary engagement of the C 4 metabolic cycle in support of net carbon assimilation. CURRENT OPINION IN PLANT BIOLOGY 2019; 49:27-34. [PMID: 31150949 DOI: 10.1016/j.pbi.2019.04.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2019] [Revised: 04/20/2019] [Accepted: 04/23/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
C4 photosynthesis evolved dozens of times, with a critical step being the engagement of a C4 metabolic cycle to concentrate CO2 into a bundle sheath-like compartment. While C3-C4 intermediate species show a progressive increase in the activity of a C4 metabolic cycle, the integration of the C4 and C3 biochemical cycles in enhancing photosynthetic carbon gain occurs in a punctuated manner, at an initial C4 cycle activity near 60%. Punctuated integration of the C4 cycle could result from the evolutionary acquisition of traits that coordinate the C3 and C4 biochemical cycles (for example, an enzymatic, regulatory or transport function) or from a sudden reduction in the mesophyll C3 cycle. Alternatively, a punctuated pattern could be an artifact of low numbers of C3-C4 intermediates in the evolutionary space where C4 cycle engagement occurs, due to incomplete sampling of natural diversity or evolutionary dynamics rendering such intermediates unstable. Understanding how the C4 cycle becomes integrated with the C3 cycle could reveal new avenues for engineering the C4 pathway into C3 plants. Such efforts would be facilitated by the generation of hybrids, or the discovery of additional intermediates, that span the transition from low to high C4 cycle engagement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matt Stata
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, M5S3B2, Canada
| | - Tammy L Sage
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, M5S3B2, Canada
| | - Rowan F Sage
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, M5S3B2, Canada.
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Zhou H, Helliker BR, Huber M, Dicks A, Akçay E. C 4 photosynthesis and climate through the lens of optimality. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2018; 115:12057-12062. [PMID: 30401739 PMCID: PMC6255158 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1718988115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
CO2, temperature, water availability, and light intensity were all potential selective pressures that determined the competitive advantage and expansion of the C4 photosynthetic carbon-concentrating mechanism over the last ∼30 My. To tease apart how selective pressures varied along the ecological trajectory of C4 expansion and dominance, we coupled hydraulics to photosynthesis models while optimizing photosynthesis over stomatal resistance and leaf/fine-root allocation. We further examined the importance of nitrogen reallocation from the dark to the light reactions. We show here that the primary selective pressures favoring C4 dominance changed through the course of C4 evolution. The higher stomatal resistance and leaf-to-root ratios enabled by C4 led to an advantage without any initial difference in hydraulic properties. We further predict a reorganization of the hydraulic system leading to higher turgor-loss points and possibly lower hydraulic conductance. Selection on nitrogen reallocation varied with CO2 concentration. Through paleoclimate model simulations, we find that water limitation was the primary driver for a C4 advantage, with atmospheric CO2 as high as 600 ppm, thus confirming molecular-based estimates for C4 evolution in the Oligocene. Under these high-CO2 conditions, nitrogen reallocation was necessary. Low CO2 and high light, but not nitrogen reallocation, were the primary drivers for the mid- to late-Miocene global expansion of C4 We also predicted the timing and spatial distribution for origins of C4 ecological dominance. The predicted origins are broadly consistent with prior estimates, but expand upon them to include a center of origin in northwest Africa and a Miocene-long origin in Australia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haoran Zhou
- Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104;
| | - Brent R Helliker
- Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104
| | - Matthew Huber
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907
| | - Ashley Dicks
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907
| | - Erol Akçay
- Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104
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