Carboxylation reactions and photosynthesis of carbon compounds in isolated mesophyll and bundle sheath cells of Digitaria sanguinalis (L.) Scop

Evolution of Crassulacean acid metabolism in response to the environment: past, present, and future

Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) is a mode of photosynthesis that evolved in response to decreasing CO2 levels in the atmosphere some 20 million years ago. An elevated ratio of O2 relative to CO2 caused many plants to face increasing stress from photorespiration, a process exacerbated for plants living under high temperatures or in water-limited environments. Today, our climate is again rapidly changing and plants' ability to cope with and adapt to these novel environments is critical for their success. This review focuses on CAM plant responses to abiotic stressors likely to dominate in our changing climate: increasing CO2 levels, increasing temperatures, and greater variability in drought. Empirical studies that have assessed CAM responses are reviewed, though notably these are concentrated in relatively few CAM lineages. Other aspects of CAM biology, including the effects of abiotic stress on the light reactions and the role of leaf succulence, are also considered in the context of climate change. Finally, more recent studies using genomic techniques are discussed to link physiological changes in CAM plants with the underlying molecular mechanism. Together, the body of work reviewed suggests that CAM plants will continue to thrive in certain environments under elevated CO2. However, how CO2 interacts with other environmental factors, how those interactions affect CAM plants, and whether all CAM plants will be equally affected remain outstanding questions regarding the evolution of CAM on a changing planet.

Walking the C4 pathway: past, present, and future

The year 2016 marks 50 years since the publication of the seminal paper by Hatch and Slack describing the biochemical pathway we now know as C₄ photosynthesis. This review provides insight into the initial discovery of this pathway, the clues which led Hatch and Slack and others to these definitive experiments, some of the intrigue which surrounds the international activities which led up to the discovery, and personal insights into the future of this research field. While the biochemical understanding of the basic pathways came quickly, the role of the bundle sheath intermediate CO₂ pool was not understood for a number of years, and the nature of C₄ as a biochemical CO₂ pump then linked the unique Kranz anatomy of C₄ plants to their biochemical specialization. Decades of "grind and find biochemistry" and leaf physiology fleshed out the regulation of the pathway and the differences in physiological response to the environment between C₃ and C₄ plants. The more recent advent of plant transformation then high-throughput RNA and DNA sequencing and synthetic biology has allowed us both to carry out biochemical experiments and test hypotheses in planta and to better understand the evolution-driven molecular and genetic changes which occurred in the genomes of plants in the transition from C₃ to C₄ Now we are using this knowledge in attempts to engineer C₄ rice and improve the C₄ engine itself for enhanced food security and to provide novel biofuel feedstocks. The next 50 years of photosynthesis will no doubt be challenging, stimulating, and a drawcard for the best young minds in plant biology.

Walking the C4 pathway: past, present, and future

The year 2016 marks 50 years since the publication of the seminal paper by Hatch and Slack describing the biochemical pathway we now know as C4 photosynthesis. This review provides insight into the initial discovery of this pathway, the clues which led Hatch and Slack and others to these definitive experiments, some of the intrigue which surrounds the international activities which led up to the discovery, and personal insights into the future of this research field. While the biochemical understanding of the basic pathways came quickly, the role of the bundle sheath intermediate CO2 pool was not understood for a number of years, and the nature of C4 as a biochemical CO2 pump then linked the unique Kranz anatomy of C4 plants to their biochemical specialization. Decades of "grind and find biochemistry" and leaf physiology fleshed out the regulation of the pathway and the differences in physiological response to the environment between C3 and C4 plants. The more recent advent of plant transformation then high-throughput RNA and DNA sequencing and synthetic biology has allowed us both to carry out biochemical experiments and test hypotheses in planta and to better understand the evolution-driven molecular and genetic changes which occurred in the genomes of plants in the transition from C3 to C4 Now we are using this knowledge in attempts to engineer C4 rice and improve the C4 engine itself for enhanced food security and to provide novel biofuel feedstocks. The next 50 years of photosynthesis will no doubt be challenging, stimulating, and a drawcard for the best young minds in plant biology.

Oxaloacetate as the hill oxidant in mesophyll cells of plants possessing the c(4)-dicarboxylic Acid cycle of leaf photosynthesis

Isolated mesophyll cells from leaves of plants that use the C(4) dicarboxylic acid pathway of CO(2) fixation have been used to demonstrate that oxaloacetic acid reduction to malic acid is coupled to the photochemical evolution of oxygen through the presumed production of NADPH. The major acid-stable product of light-dependent CO(2) fixation is shown to be malic acid. In the presence of phosphoenolpyruvate and bicarbonate the stoichiometry of CO(2) fixation into acid-stable products to O(2) evolution is shown to be near 1.0. Thus oxaloacetic acid acts directly as the Hill oxidant in mesophyll cell chloroplasts. The experiments are taken as a firm demonstration that the C(4) dicarboxylic acid cycle of photosynthesis is the major pathway for the fixation of CO(2) in mesophyll cells of plants having this pathway.

Signal transduction in maize and Arabidopsis mesophyll protoplasts

Plant protoplasts show physiological perceptions and responses to hormones, metabolites, environmental cues, and pathogen-derived elicitors, similar to cell-autonomous responses in intact tissues and plants. The development of defined protoplast transient expression systems for high-throughput screening and systematic characterization of gene functions has greatly contributed to elucidating plant signal transduction pathways, in combination with genetic, genomic, and transgenic approaches.

Compartmentation of photosynthesis in cells and tissues of C(4) plants

Critical to defining photosynthesis in C(4) plants is understanding the intercellular and intracellular compartmentation of enzymes between mesophyll and bundle sheath cells in the leaf. This includes enzymes of the C(4) cycle (including three subtypes), the C(3) pathway and photorespiration. The current state of knowledge of this compartmentation is a consequence of the development and application of different techniques over the past three decades. Initial studies led to some alternative hypotheses on the mechanism of C(4) photosynthesis, and some controversy over the compartmentation of enzymes. The development of methods for separating mesophyll and bundle sheath cells provided convincing evidence on intercellular compartmentation of the key components of the C(4) pathway. Studies on the intracellular compartmentation of enzymes between organelles and the cytosol were facilitated by the isolation of mesophyll and bundle sheath protoplasts, which can be fractionated gently while maintaining organelle integrity. Now, the ability to determine localization of photosynthetic enzymes conclusively, through in situ immunolocalization by confocal light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, is providing further insight into the mechanism of C(4) photosynthesis and its evolution. Currently, immunological, ultrastructural and cytochemical studies are revealing relationships between anatomical arrangements and photosynthetic mechanisms which are probably related to environmental factors associated with evolution of these plants. This includes interesting variations in the C(4) syndrome in leaves and cotyledons of species in the tribe Salsoleae of the family Chenopodiaceae, in relation to evolution and ecology. Thus, analysis of structure-function relationships using modern techniques is a very powerful approach to understanding evolution and regulation of the photosynthetic carbon reduction mechanisms.

Localization of the C4 and C 3 pathways of photosynthesis in the leaves of Pennisetum purpureum and other C4 species. Insignificance of phenol oxidase

Mesophyll protoplasts and bundle-sheath cells of Pennisetum purpureum Schum., a C4 plant with low phenol-oxidase activity, were enzymatically separated according to methods recently developed with sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.), maize (Zea mays L.), and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.). The phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase and NADP-malic dehydrogenase of the C4 pathway were found to be localized in the mesophyll protoplasts while ribulose-1,5-diphosphate (RuDP) carboxylase, phosphoribulokinase and NADP-malic enzyme were localized in the bundle-sheath cells. The levels of these enzyme activities in the leaf extracts and in certain cellular preparations of P. purpureum are sufficient to account for the rate of photosynthesis in the leaf. These results on the activities and distribution of photosynthetic enzymes with P. purpureum preparations are consistent with our previous evidence for cellular separation of the C4 and the reductive pentose-phosphate pathways in C4 species.With chlorogenic acid as the substrate, P. purpureum, Setaria lutescens (Weigel) Hubb. and Panicum texanum Buckl. have relatively low phenol-oxidase activity, similar to that found in spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.); while sorghum, sugarcane, maize, Panicum capillare L. and P. miliaceum L. have relatively high phenoloxidase activity, similar to that in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.). C4 species having high phenol-oxidase activity have substantial activity of the enzyme in both mesophyll and bundle-sheath extracts. Since phenol oxidase is found in both cell types it is not logical to expect preferential inhibition of RuDP carboxylase or other photosynthetic enzymes through phenol oxidation in mesophyll extracts, as has been previously suggested. When dithiothreitol and polyvinylpyrrolidone were included in the enzyme extraction medium, the activity of RuDP carboxylase increased 10% in P. purpureum and 59% in sugarcane leaf extracts.

Selective inhibition of mesophyll chloroplast development in some C4-pathway species by low night temperature

Exposure of plants of Sorghum bicolor L. line E 1287 and hybrid NK 145, of Digitaria smutsii Stapf, and of Paspalum dilatatum L.-grasses having the C4 pathway of photosynthesis-to temperatures of 4°, 2.5°, 2.5° and-3°, respectively, for a single night caused the formation within 36 h of transverse, irreversibly chlorotic bands on emerging leaves. Chlorosis was associated with the presence of chlorophyll-deficient, structurally abnormal plastids in most mesophyll cells, whereas chloroplasts in adjacent bundle-sheath cells were green and possessed a normal lamellar structure. The ultrastructure of other organelles in the chlorotic mesophyll cells appeared normal and the levels of cytoplasmic rRNA, non-plastid lipids and isocitrate dehydrogenase were similar or slightly higher in chlorotic compared with green lamina. The content of chloroplast rRNA and plastid lipids in the chlorotic tissue was low. Activities of all C4-pathway enzymes examined were lower in the chlorotic tissue but phosphopyruvate carboxylase, NADP-malate dehydrogenase and adenylate kinase were reduced to a greater extent than ribulose diphosphate carboxylase, fructose diphosphate aldolase and malic enzyme. The region of emerging leaves that contained mesophyll plastids susceptible to low temperature was identified and the stages of plastid ontogeny below, within and above this region examined. During normal differentiation rapid increases in plastid size and in the content of chloroplast rRNA, chlorophyll, plastid lipids and in the activities of C4-pathway enzymes occur at a developmental stage subsequent to that at which plastids are susceptible to low temperature.

Decarboxylation of malate by isolated bundle-sheath cells of certain plants having the C4-dicarboxylic acid cycle of photosynthesis

Bundle-sheath cells isolated by the grinding and filtration procedure of Edwards and Black (1971b) from species of plants having the C4-dicarboxylic acid pathway of photosynthesis were tested for the decarboxylation of malate from the C4-carboxyl position. The bundle-sheath cells, which showed high malic enzyme activity in extracts, decarboxylated 4[(14)C]malate at rates sufficient to be involved in photosynthesis. The malate decarboxylation is dependent on the addition of magnesium or manganese and NADP(+). The activity was increased by raising the temperature from 30 to 50°. The evidence supports the idea that malate may be a carboxyl donor to the reductive pentose-phosphate cycle in bundle-sheath cells in certain C4-dicarboxylic acid pathway plants such as Zea mays L., Sorghum bicolor L., and Digitaria sanguinalis (L.) Scop.

Peripheral reticulum in chloroplasts of plants differing in CO2 fixation pathways and photorespiration

The development of peripheral reticulum (PR) in chloroplasts varies in C3 and C4 plants. In general, PR is more extensive in C4 plants, but PR is also seen in the chloroplasts of some C3 plants. Within some C4 plants, PR is seen in the bundle sheath cells which predominantly use the C3 pathway. Thus, PR is not associated directly with the presence of the C4 pathway on a cellular basis. Its predominance in C4 plants must be related to some characteristic other than the method of CO2 fixation. Ultrastructural evidence suggests that PR is associated with the rapid transfer of substances into and out of chloroplasts and from mesophyll to bundle sheath cells.

The C 4 -pathway of photosynthesis. Evidence for an intermediate pool of carbon dioxide and the identity of the donor C 4 -dicarboxylic acid

1. Leaves were exposed to (14)CO(2) under steady-state conditions for photosynthesis. The kinetics of entry or loss of label in pools of CO(2) and other compounds was examined during the period of the pulse and a ;chase' with (12)CO(2). 2. With maize the kinetics of labelling of the major CO(2) pool and of depletion of label during a ;chase' was consistent with this pool being derived from the C-4 of malate and being the precursor of the C-1 of 3-phosphoglycerate. 3. Similar results were obtained for Amaranthus leaves except that the C-4 of aspartate rather than malate was apparently the primary source of CO(2). 4. The size and turnover time of the CO(2) and C(4) acid pools was calculated. These results provided the basis for estimating the concentration of CO(2) in the bundle-sheath cells or chloroplasts assuming the pool was largely restricted to one or other of these compartments. 5. These findings are considered in relation to current schemes for the C(4)-pathway and the operation of a CO(2) concentrating mechanism to serve ribulose diphosphate carboxylase.

Leaf microbodies (peroxisomes) and catalase localization in plants differing in their photosynthetic carbon pathways

The tropical grasses sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) and pangolagrass (Digitaria decumbens) contained fewer leaf microbodies than temperate orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata). Leaf microbodies were seen in both the mesophyll and bundle sheath cells of tropical grasses. The fibrous elements in the microbodies of tropical grasses differed from those of the temperate grass. Catalase was predominantly localized in the microbodies of leaf cells (3,3'-diaminobenzidine method). The site of greatest catalase activity appeared to be the fibrous and/or crystalline inclusions within the microbodies. The low rates of photorespiration noted in tropical grasses do not appear to be due to the complete absence of the necessary organelles.