NMR determination of photorespiration in intact leaves using in vivo 13CO2 labeling

Investigating the Metabolism of Plants Germinated in Heavy Water, D2O, and H218O-Enriched Media Using High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry

Mass spectrometry has been an essential technique for the investigation of the metabolic pathways of living organisms since its appearance at the beginning of the 20th century. Due to its capability to resolve isotopically labeled species, it can be applied together with stable isotope tracers to reveal the transformation of particular biologically relevant molecules. However, low-resolution techniques, which were used for decades, had limited capabilities for untargeted metabolomics, especially when a large number of compounds are labelled simultaneously. Such untargeted studies may provide new information about metabolism and can be performed with high-resolution mass spectrometry. Here, we demonstrate the capabilities of high-resolution mass spectrometry to obtain insights on the metabolism of a model plant, Lepidium sativum, germinated in D2O and H218O-enriched media. In particular, we demonstrated that in vivo labeling with heavy water helps to identify if a compound is being synthesized at a particular stage of germination or if it originates from seed content, and tandem mass spectrometry allows us to highlight the substructures with incorporated isotope labels. Additionally, we found in vivo labeling useful to distinguish between isomeric compounds with identical fragmentation patterns due to the differences in their formation rates that can be compared by the extent of heavy atom incorporation.

Enzymatic Conversion of CO2: From Natural to Artificial Utilization

Enzymatic carbon dioxide fixation is one of the most important metabolic reactions as it allows the capture of inorganic carbon from the atmosphere and its conversion into organic biomass. However, due to the often unfavorable thermodynamics and the difficulties associated with the utilization of CO₂, a gaseous substrate that is found in comparatively low concentrations in the atmosphere, such reactions remain challenging for biotechnological applications. Nature has tackled these problems by evolution of dedicated CO₂-fixing enzymes, i.e., carboxylases, and embedding them in complex metabolic pathways. Biotechnology employs such carboxylating and decarboxylating enzymes for the carboxylation of aromatic and aliphatic substrates either by embedding them into more complex reaction cascades or by shifting the reaction equilibrium via reaction engineering. This review aims to provide an overview of natural CO₂-fixing enzymes and their mechanistic similarities. We also discuss biocatalytic applications of carboxylases and decarboxylases for the synthesis of valuable products and provide a separate summary of strategies to improve the efficiency of such processes. We briefly summarize natural CO₂ fixation pathways, provide a roadmap for the design and implementation of artificial carbon fixation pathways, and highlight examples of biocatalytic cascades involving carboxylases. Additionally, we suggest that biochemical utilization of reduced CO₂ derivates, such as formate or methanol, represents a suitable alternative to direct use of CO₂ and provide several examples. Our discussion closes with a techno-economic perspective on enzymatic CO₂ fixation and its potential to reduce CO₂ emissions.

Dynamic response of photorespiration in fluctuating light environments

Photorespiration is a dynamic process that is intimately linked to photosynthetic carbon assimilation. There is a growing interest in understanding carbon assimilation during dynamic conditions, but the role of photorespiration under such conditions is unclear. In this review, we discuss recent work relevant to the function of photorespiration under dynamic conditions, with a special focus on light transients. This work reveals that photorespiration is a fundamental component of the light induction of assimilation where variable diffusive processes limit CO2 exchange with the atmosphere. Additionally, metabolic interactions between photorespiration and the C3 cycle may help balance fluxes under dynamic light conditions. We further discuss how the energy demands of photorespiration present special challenges to energy balancing during dynamic conditions. We finish the review with an overview of why regulation of photorespiration may be important under dynamic conditions to maintain appropriate fluxes through metabolic pathways related to photorespiration such as nitrogen and one-carbon metabolism.

Integrated flux and pool size analysis in plant central metabolism reveals unique roles of glycine and serine during photorespiration

Photorespiration is an essential process juxtaposed between plant carbon and nitrogen metabolism that responds to dynamic environments. Photorespiration recycles inhibitory intermediates arising from oxygenation reactions catalysed by Rubisco back into the C₃ cycle, but it is unclear what proportions of its nitrogen-containing intermediates (glycine and serine) are exported into other metabolisms in vivo and how these pool sizes affect net CO₂ gas exchange during photorespiratory transients. Here, to address this uncertainty, we measured rates of amino acid export from photorespiration using isotopically non-stationary metabolic flux analysis. This analysis revealed that ~23-41% of the photorespiratory carbon was exported from the pathway as serine under various photorespiratory conditions. Furthermore, we determined that the build-up and relaxation of glycine pools constrained a large portion of photosynthetic acclimation during photorespiratory transients. These results reveal the unique and important roles of glycine and serine in successfully maintaining various photorespiratory fluxes that occur under environmental fluctuations in nature and providing carbon and nitrogen for metabolism.

The next phase in the development of 13C isotopically non-stationary metabolic flux analysis

This viewpoint devises recommendations for future studies utilizing 13C isotopically non-stationary metabolic flux analysis to characterize plant metabolism. Most importantly, it highlights the necessity for model validation.

13C Isotope Labelling to Follow the Flux of Photorespiratory Intermediates

Measuring the carbon flux through metabolic pathways in intact illuminated leaves remains challenging because of, e.g., isotopic dilution by endogenous metabolites, the impossibility to reach isotopic steady state, and the occurrence of multiple pools. In the case of photorespiratory intermediates, our knowledge of the partitioning between photorespiratory recycling, storage, and utilization by other pathways is thus rather limited. There has been some controversy as to whether photorespiratory glycine and serine may not be recycled, thus changing the apparent stoichiometric coefficient between photorespiratory O₂ fixation and CO₂ release. We describe here an isotopic method to trace the fates of glycine, serine and glycerate, taking advantage of positional ¹³C content with NMR and isotopic analyses by LC–MS. This technique is well-adapted to show that the proportion of glycerate, serine and glycine molecules escaping photorespiratory recycling is very small.

The metabolic importance of the overlooked asparaginase II pathway

The asparaginase II pathway consists of an asparagine transaminase [l-asparagine + α-keto acid ⇆ α-ketosuccinamate + l-amino acid] coupled to ω-amidase [α-ketosuccinamate + H₂O → oxaloacetate + NH₄⁺]. The net reaction is: l-asparagine + α-keto acid + H₂O → oxaloacetate + l-amino acid + NH₄⁺. Thus, in the presence of a suitable α-keto acid substrate, the asparaginase II pathway generates anaplerotic oxaloacetate at the expense of readily dispensable asparagine. Several studies have shown that the asparaginase II pathway is important in photorespiration in plants. However, since its discovery in rat tissues in the 1950s, this pathway has been almost completely ignored as a conduit for asparagine metabolism in mammals. Several mammalian transaminases can catalyze transamination of asparagine, one of which - alanine-glyoxylate aminotransferase type 1 (AGT1) - is important in glyoxylate metabolism. Glyoxylate is a precursor of oxalate which, in the form of its calcium salt, is a major contributor to the formation of kidney stones. Thus, transamination of glyoxylate with asparagine may be physiologically important for the removal of potentially toxic glyoxylate. Asparaginase has been the mainstay treatment for certain childhood leukemias. We suggest that an inhibitor of ω-amidase may potentiate the therapeutic benefits of asparaginase treatment.

Variation in the ratio of curli and phosphoethanolamine cellulose associated with biofilm architecture and properties

Bacterial biofilms are communities of bacteria entangled in a self-produced extracellular matrix (ECM). Escherichia coli direct the assembly of two insoluble biopolymers, curli amyloid fibers, and phosphoethanolamine (pEtN) cellulose, to build remarkable biofilm architectures. Intense curiosity surrounds how bacteria harness these amyloid-polysaccharide composites to build biofilms, and how these biopolymers function to benefit bacterial communities. Defining ECM composition involving insoluble polymeric assemblies poses unique challenges to analysis and, thus, to comparing strains with quantitative ECM molecular correlates. In this work, we present results from a sum-of-the-parts ¹³ C solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis to define the curli-to-pEtN cellulose ratio in the isolated ECM of the E. coli laboratory K12 strain, AR3110. We compare and contrast the compositional analysis and comprehensive biofilm phenotypes for AR3110 and a well-studied clinical isolate, UTI89. The ECM isolated from AR3110 contains approximately twice the amount of pEtN cellulose relative to curli content as UTI89, revealing plasticity in matrix assembly principles among strains. The two parent strains and a panel of relevant gene mutants were investigated in three biofilm models, examining: (a) macrocolonies on agar, (b) pellicles at the liquid-air interface, and (c) biomass accumulation on plastic. We describe the influence of curli, cellulose, and the pEtN modification on biofilm phenotypes with power in the direct comparison of these strains. The results suggest that curli more strongly influence adhesion, while pEtN cellulose drives cohesion. Their individual and combined influence depends on both the biofilm modality (agar, pellicle, or plastic-associated) and the strain itself.

Substrate-dependent CO2 fixation in heterotrophic bacteria revealed by stable isotope labelling

Virtually all heterotrophs incorporate carbon dioxide by anaplerotic fixation. Little explored, however, is the interdependency of pathways and rates of CO2fixation on the concurrent usage of organic substrate(s). Potentially, this could reveal which substrates out of a pool of dissolved organic carbon are utilised by environmental microorganisms. To explore this possibility, Bacillus subtilis W23 was grown in a minimal medium with normalised amounts of either glucose, lactate or malate as only organic substrates, each together with 1 g/L NaH13CO3. Incorporation of H13CO3− was traced by elemental analysis-isotope ratio mass spectrometry of biomass and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry of protein-derived amino acids. Until the late logarithmic phase, 13C incorporation into the tricarboxylic acid cycle increased with time and occurred via [4–13C]oxaloacetate formed by carboxylation of pyruvate. The levels of 13C incorporation were highest for growth on glucose and lowest on malate. Incorporation of 13C into gluconeogenesis products was mainly detected in the lactate and malate experiment, whereas glucose down-regulated this path. A proof-of-principle study with a natural groundwater community confirmed the ability to determine incorporation from H13CO3− by natural communities leading to specific labelling patterns. This underlines the potential of the labelling approach to characterise carbon sources of heterotrophic microorganisms in their natural environments.

Daring metabolic designs for enhanced plant carbon fixation

Increasing agricultural productivity is one of the major challenges our society faces. While multiple strategies to enhance plant carbon fixation have been suggested, and partially implemented, most of them are restricted to relatively simple modifications of endogenous metabolism, i.e., "low hanging fruit". Here, I portray the next generation of metabolic solutions to increase carbon fixation rate and yield. These strategies involve major rewiring of central metabolism, including dividing Rubisco's catalysis between several enzymes, replacing Rubisco with a different carboxylation reaction, substituting the Calvin Cycle with alternative carbon fixation pathways, and engineering photorespiration bypass routes that do not release carbon. While the barriers for implementing these elaborated metabolic architectures are quite significant, if we truly want to revolutionize carbon fixation, only daring engineering efforts will lead the way.

The Diverse AAA+ Machines that Repair Inhibited Rubisco Active Sites

Gaseous carbon dioxide enters the biosphere almost exclusively via the active site of the enzyme ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco). This highly conserved catalyst has an almost universal propensity to non-productively interact with its substrate ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate, leading to the formation of dead-end inhibited complexes. In diverse autotrophic organisms this tendency has been counteracted by the recruitment of dedicated AAA+ (ATPases associated with various cellular activities) proteins that all use the energy of ATP hydrolysis to remodel inhibited Rubisco active sites leading to release of the inhibitor. Three evolutionarily distinct classes of these Rubisco activases (Rcas) have been discovered so far. Green and red-type Rca are mostly found in photosynthetic eukaryotes of the green and red plastid lineage respectively, whereas CbbQO is associated with chemoautotrophic bacteria. Ongoing mechanistic studies are elucidating how the various motors are utilizing both similar and contrasting strategies to ultimately perform their common function of cracking the inhibited Rubisco active site. The best studied mechanism utilized by red-type Rca appears to involve transient threading of the Rubisco large subunit C-terminal peptide, reminiscent of the action performed by Clp proteases. As well as providing a fascinating example of convergent molecular evolution, Rca proteins can be considered promising crop-improvement targets. Approaches aiming to replace Rubisco in plants with improved enzymes will need to ensure the presence of a compatible Rca protein. The thermolability of the Rca protein found in crop plants provides an opportunity to fortify photosynthesis against high temperature stress. Photosynthesis also appears to be limited by Rca when light conditions are fluctuating. Synthetic biology strategies aiming to enhance the autotrophic CO₂ fixation machinery will need to take into consideration the requirement for Rubisco activases as well as their properties.

Decoding Biosynthetic Pathways in Plants by Pulse-Chase Strategies Using (13)CO₂ as a Universal Tracer †

(13)CO₂ pulse-chase experiments monitored by high-resolution NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry can provide (13)C-isotopologue compositions in biosynthetic products. Experiments with a variety of plant species have documented that the isotopologue profiles generated with (13)CO₂ pulse-chase labeling are directly comparable to those that can be generated by the application of [U-(13)C₆]glucose to aseptically growing plants. However, the application of the (13)CO₂ labeling technology is not subject to the experimental limitations that one has to take into account for experiments with [U-(13)C₆]glucose and can be applied to plants growing under physiological conditions, even in the field. In practical terms, the results of biosynthetic studies with (13)CO₂ consist of the detection of pairs, triples and occasionally quadruples of (13)C atoms that have been jointly contributed to the target metabolite, at an abundance that is well above the stochastic occurrence of such multiples. Notably, the connectivities of jointly transferred (13)C multiples can have undergone modification by skeletal rearrangements that can be diagnosed from the isotopologue data. As shown by the examples presented in this review article, the approach turns out to be powerful in decoding the carbon topology of even complex biosynthetic pathways.

Assessing compartmentalized flux in lipid metabolism with isotopes

Metabolism in plants takes place across multiple cell types and within distinct organelles. The distributions equate to spatial heterogeneity; though the limited means to experimentally assess metabolism frequently involve homogenizing tissues and mixing metabolites from different locations. Most current isotope investigations of metabolism therefore lack the ability to resolve spatially distinct events. Recognition of this limitation has resulted in inspired efforts to advance metabolic flux analysis and isotopic labeling techniques. Though a number of these efforts have been applied to studies in central metabolism; recent advances in instrumentation and techniques present an untapped opportunity to make similar progress in lipid metabolism where the use of stable isotopes has been more limited. These efforts will benefit from sophisticated radiolabeling reports that continue to enrich our knowledge on lipid biosynthetic pathways and provide some direction for stable isotope experimental design and extension of MFA. Evidence for this assertion is presented through the review of several elegant stable isotope studies and by taking stock of what has been learned from radioisotope investigations when spatial aspects of metabolism were considered. The studies emphasize that glycerolipid production occurs across several locations with assembly of lipids in the ER or plastid, fatty acid biosynthesis occurring in the plastid, and the generation of acetyl-CoA and glycerol-3-phosphate taking place at multiple sites. Considering metabolism in this context underscores the cellular and subcellular organization that is important to enhanced production of glycerolipids in plants. An attempt is made to unify salient features from a number of reports into a diagrammatic model of lipid metabolism and propose where stable isotope labeling experiments and further flux analysis may help address questions in the field. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Plant Lipid Biology edited by Kent D. Chapman and Ivo Feussner.

NMR-based structural validation of therapeutic antibody produced in Nicotiana benthamiana

KEY MESSAGE

We successfully developed a method for metabolic isotope labeling of recombinant proteins produced in transgenic tobacco. This enabled assessment of structural integrity of plant-derived therapeutic antibodies by NMR analysis. A variety of expression vehicles have been developed for the production of promising biologics, including plants, fungi, bacteria, insects, and mammals. Glycoprotein biologics often experience altered folding and post-translational modifications that are typified by variant glycosylation patterns. These differences can dramatically affect their efficacy, as exemplified by therapeutic antibodies. However, it is generally difficult to validate the structural integrity of biologics produced using different expression vehicles. To address this issue, we have developed and applied a stable-isotope-assisted nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy method for the conformational characterization of recombinant antibodies produced in plants. Nicotiana benthamiana used as a vehicle for the production of recombinant immunoglobulin G (IgG) was grown in a (15)N-enriched plant growth medium. The Fc fragment derived from the (15)N-labeled antibody thus prepared was subjected to heteronuclear two-dimensional (2D) NMR measurements. This approach enabled assessment of the structural integrity of the plant-derived therapeutic antibodies by comparing their NMR spectral properties with those of an authentic IgG-Fc derived from mammalian cells.

Pool size measurements facilitate the determination of fluxes at branching points in non-stationary metabolic flux analysis: the case of Arabidopsis thaliana

Pool size measurements are important for the estimation of absolute intracellular fluxes in particular scenarios based on data from heavy carbon isotope experiments. Recently, steady-state fluxes estimates were obtained for central carbon metabolism in an intact illuminated rosette of Arabidopsis thaliana grown photoautotrophically (Szecowka et al., 2013; Heise et al., 2014). Fluxes were estimated therein by integrating mass-spectrometric data of the dynamics of the unlabeled metabolic fraction, data on metabolic pool sizes, partitioning of metabolic pools between cellular compartments and estimates of photosynthetically inactive pools, with a simplified model of plant central carbon metabolism. However, the fluxes were determined by treating the pool sizes as fixed parameters. Here we investigated whether and, if so, to what extent the treatment of pool sizes as parameters to be optimized in three scenarios may affect the flux estimates. The results are discussed in terms of benchmark values for canonical pathways and reactions, including starch and sucrose synthesis as well as the ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylation and oxygenation reactions. In addition, we discuss pathways emerging from a divergent branch point for which pool sizes are required for flux estimation, irrespective of the computational approach used for the simulation of the observable labeling pattern. Therefore, our findings indicate the necessity for development of techniques for accurate pool size measurements to improve the quality of flux estimates from non-stationary flux estimates in intact plant cells in the absence of alternative flux measurements.

Isotopically nonstationary 13C flux analysis of changes in Arabidopsis thaliana leaf metabolism due to high light acclimation

Improving plant productivity is an important aim for metabolic engineering. There are few comprehensive methods that quantitatively describe leaf metabolism, although such information would be valuable for increasing photosynthetic capacity, enhancing biomass production, and rerouting carbon flux toward desirable end products. Isotopically nonstationary metabolic flux analysis (INST-MFA) has been previously applied to map carbon fluxes in photoautotrophic bacteria, which involves model-based regression of transient (13)C-labeling patterns of intracellular metabolites. However, experimental and computational difficulties have hindered its application to terrestrial plant systems. We performed in vivo isotopic labeling of Arabidopsis thaliana rosettes with (13)CO2 and estimated fluxes throughout leaf photosynthetic metabolism by INST-MFA. Plants grown at 200 µmol m(-2)s(-1) light were compared with plants acclimated for 9 d at an irradiance of 500 µmol⋅m(-2)⋅s(-1). Approximately 1,400 independent mass isotopomer measurements obtained from analysis of 37 metabolite fragment ions were regressed to estimate 136 total fluxes (54 free fluxes) under each condition. The results provide a comprehensive description of changes in carbon partitioning and overall photosynthetic flux after long-term developmental acclimation of leaves to high light. Despite a doubling in the carboxylation rate, the photorespiratory flux increased from 17 to 28% of net CO2 assimilation with high-light acclimation (Vc/Vo: 3.5:1 vs. 2.3:1, respectively). This study highlights the potential of (13)C INST-MFA to describe emergent flux phenotypes that respond to environmental conditions or plant physiology and cannot be obtained by other complementary approaches.

Ammonia-oxidizing archaea use the most energy-efficient aerobic pathway for CO2 fixation

Archaea of the phylum Thaumarchaeota are among the most abundant prokaryotes on Earth and are widely distributed in marine, terrestrial, and geothermal environments. All studied Thaumarchaeota couple the oxidation of ammonia at extremely low concentrations with carbon fixation. As the predominant nitrifiers in the ocean and in various soils, ammonia-oxidizing archaea contribute significantly to the global nitrogen and carbon cycles. Here we provide biochemical evidence that thaumarchaeal ammonia oxidizers assimilate inorganic carbon via a modified version of the autotrophic hydroxypropionate/hydroxybutyrate cycle of Crenarchaeota that is far more energy efficient than any other aerobic autotrophic pathway. The identified genes of this cycle were found in the genomes of all sequenced representatives of the phylum Thaumarchaeota, indicating the environmental significance of this efficient CO2-fixation pathway. Comparative phylogenetic analysis of proteins of this pathway suggests that the hydroxypropionate/hydroxybutyrate cycle emerged independently in Crenarchaeota and Thaumarchaeota, thus supporting the hypothesis of an early evolutionary separation of both archaeal phyla. We conclude that high efficiency of anabolism exemplified by this autotrophic cycle perfectly suits the lifestyle of ammonia-oxidizing archaea, which thrive at a constantly low energy supply, thus offering a biochemical explanation for their ecological success in nutrient-limited environments.

Suppression of glycolate oxidase causes glyoxylate accumulation that inhibits photosynthesis through deactivating Rubisco in rice

Glycolate oxidase (GLO) is a key enzyme for photorespiration in plants. Previous studies have demonstrated that suppression of GLO causes photosynthetic inhibition, and the accumulated glycolate with the deactivated Rubisco is likely involved in the regulation. Using isolated Rubisco and chloroplasts, it has been found that only glyoxylate can effectively inactivate Rubisco and meanwhile inhibit photosynthesis, but little in vivo evidence has been acquired and reported. In this study, we have generated the transgenic rice (Oryza sativa) plants with GLO being constitutively silenced, and conducted the physiological and biochemical analyses on these plants to explore the regulatory mechanism. When GLO was downregulated, the net photosynthetic rate (Pn) was reduced and the plant growth was correspondingly stunted. Surprisingly, glyoxylate, as a product of the GLO catalysis, was accumulated in response to the GLO suppression, like its substrate glycolate. Furthermore, the glyoxylate content was found to be inversely proportional to the Pn while the Pn is directly proportional to the Rubisco activation state in the GLO-suppressed plants. A mathematical fitting equation using least square method also demonstrated that the Rubisco activation state was inversely proportional to the glyoxylate content. Despite that the further analyses we have conducted failed to reveal how glyoxylate was accumulated in response to the GLO suppression, the current results do strongly suggest that there may exist an unidentified, alternative pathway to produce glyoxylate, and that the accumulated glyoxylate inhibits photosynthesis by deactivating Rubisco, and causes the photorespiratory phenotype in the GLO-suppressed rice plants.

Integrated operation of the photorespiratory cycle and cytosolic metabolism in the modulation of primary nitrogen assimilation and export of organic N-transport compounds from leaves: a hypothesis

Photorespiration is generally considered to be an essentially dissipative process, although it performs some protective and essential functions. A theoretical appraisal indicates that the loss of freshly assimilated CO2 due to photorespiration in well-watered plants may not be as high as generally believed. Even under moderately adverse conditions, these losses may not exceed 10%. The photorespiratory metabolism of the source leaves of well-watered and well-nourished crop plants ought to be different from that of other leaves because the fluxes of the export of both carbohydrates and organic N-transport compounds in source leaves is quite high. With a heuristic approach that involved the dovetailing of certain metabolic steps with the photorespiratory cycle (PR-cycle), a novel network is proposed to operate in the source-leaves of well-watered and well-nourished plants. This network allows for the diversion of metabolites from their cyclic-routes in sizeable quantities. With the removal of considerable quantities of glycine and serine from the cyclic route, the number of RuBP oxygenation events would be several times those of the formation of hydroxypyruvate. Thus, to an extreme extent, photorespiratory metabolism would become open-ended and involve much less futile recycling of glycine and serine. Conversion of glyoxylate to glycine has been proposed to be a crucial step in the determination of the relative rates of the futile (cyclic) and anabolic (open-ended) routes. Thus, in the source leaves of well-watered and well-nourished plants, the importance of the cyclic route is limited to the salvaging of photorespiratory intermediates for the regeneration of RuBP. The proposed network is resilient enough to coordinate the rates of the assimilation of carbon and nitrogen in accordance with the moisture and N-fertility statuses of the soil.

C1 metabolism and the Calvin cycle function simultaneously and independently during HCHO metabolism and detoxification in Arabidopsis thaliana treated with HCHO solutions

Formaldehyde (HCHO) is suggested to be detoxified through one-carbon (C1) metabolism or assimilated by the Calvin cycle in plants. To further understand the function of the Calvin cycle and C1 metabolism in HCHO metabolism in plants, HCHO elimination and metabolism by Arabidopsis thaliana in HCHO solutions was investigated in this study. Results verified that Arabidopsis could completely eliminate aqueous HCHO from the HCHO solutions. Carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance ((13)C-NMR) analysis showed that H(13)CHO absorbed by Arabidopsis was first oxidized to H(13)COOH. Subsequently, a clear increase in [U-(13)C]Gluc peaks accompanied by a strong enhancement in peaks of [2-(13)C]Ser and [3-(13)C]Ser appeared in Arabidopsis. Pretreatment with cyclosporin A or L-carnitine, which might inhibit the transport of (13)C-enriched compounds into chloroplasts and mitochondria, caused a remarkable decline in yields of both [U-(13)C]Gluc and [3-(13)C]Ser in H(13)CHO-treated Arabidopsis. These results suggested that both the Calvin cycle and the C1 metabolism functioned simultaneously during HCHO detoxification. Moreover, both functioned more quickly under high H(13)CHO stress than low H(13)CHO stress. When a photorespiration mutant was treated in 6 mm H(13)CHO solution, formation of [U-(13)C]Gluc and [2-(13)C]Ser was completely inhibited, but generation of [3-(13)C]Ser was not significantly affected. This evidence suggested that the Calvin cycle and C1 metabolism functioned independently in Arabidopsis during HCHO metabolism.

Co-expression analysis as tool for the discovery of transport proteins in photorespiration

Shedding light on yet uncharacterised components of photorespiration, such as transport processes required for the function of this pathway, is a prerequisite for manipulating photorespiratory fluxes and hence for decreasing photorespiratory energy loss. The ability of forward genetic screens to identify missing links is apparently limited, as indicated by the fact that little progress has been made with this approach during the past decade. The availability of large amounts of gene expression data and the growing power of bioinformatics, paired with availability of computational resources, opens new avenues to discover proteins involved in transport of photorespiratory intermediates. Co-expression analysis is a tool that compares gene expression data under hundreds of different conditions, trying to find groups of genes that show similar expression patterns across many different conditions. Genes encoding proteins that are involved in the same process are expected to be simultaneously expressed in time and space. Thus, co-expression data can aid in the discovery of novel players in a pathway, such as the transport proteins required for facilitating the transfer of intermediates between compartments during photorespiration. We here review the principles of co-expression analysis and show how this tool can be used for identification of candidate genes encoding photorespiratory transporters.

Current methods for estimating the rate of photorespiration in leaves

Photorespiration is a process that competes with photosynthesis, in which Rubisco oxygenates, instead of carboxylates, its substrate ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate. The photorespiratory metabolism associated with the recovery of 3-phosphoglycerate is energetically costly and results in the release of previously fixed CO2. The ability to quantify photorespiration is gaining importance as a tool to help improve plant productivity in order to meet the increasing global food demand. In recent years, substantial progress has been made in the methods used to measure photorespiration. Current techniques are able to measure multiple aspects of photorespiration at different points along the photorespiratory C2 cycle. Six different methods used to estimate photorespiration are reviewed, and their advantages and disadvantages discussed.

Metabolic fluxes in an illuminated Arabidopsis rosette

Photosynthesis is the basis for life, and its optimization is a key biotechnological aim given the problems of population explosion and environmental deterioration. We describe a method to resolve intracellular fluxes in intact Arabidopsis thaliana rosettes based on time-dependent labeling patterns in the metabolome. Plants photosynthesizing under limiting irradiance and ambient CO2 in a custom-built chamber were transferred into a (13)CO2-enriched environment. The isotope labeling patterns of 40 metabolites were obtained using liquid or gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Labeling kinetics revealed striking differences between metabolites. At a qualitative level, they matched expectations in terms of pathway topology and stoichiometry, but some unexpected features point to the complexity of subcellular and cellular compartmentation. To achieve quantitative insights, the data set was used for estimating fluxes in the framework of kinetic flux profiling. We benchmarked flux estimates to four classically determined flux signatures of photosynthesis and assessed the robustness of the estimates with respect to different features of the underlying metabolic model and the time-resolved data set.

Carbon partitioning in soybean (Glycine max) leaves by combined (11) C and (13) C labeling

We labeled soybean (Glycine max) leaves with 200 and 600 ppm (13) CO(2) spiked with (11) CO(2) and examined the effects of light intensity and water stress on metabolism by using a combination of direct positron imaging and solid-state (13) C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) of the same leaf. We first made 60-min movies of the transport of photosynthetically assimilated (11) C labels. The positron imaging identified zones or patches within which variations in metabolism could be probed later by NMR. At the end of each movie, the labeled leaf was frozen in liquid nitrogen to stop metabolism, the leaf was lyophilized, and solid-state NMR was used either on the whole leaf or on various leaf fragments. The NMR analysis determined total (13) C incorporation into sugars, starch, proteins, and protein precursors. The combination of (11) C and (13) C analytical techniques has led to three major conclusions regarding photosynthetically heterogeneous soybean leaves: transient starch deposition is not the temporary storage of sucrose excluded from a saturated sugar-transport system; peptide synthesis is reduced under high-light, high CO(2) conditions; and all glycine from the photorespiratory pathway is routed to proteins within photosynthetically active zones when the leaf is water stressed and under high-light and low CO(2) conditions.

[Structural study on small molecules in biological solid samples by using solid state NMR]

Many small molecule drugs have molecular targets that are non-crystalline and insoluble biological matrices, such as proteins embedded in lipid membrane, cell membranes, and cell walls. To understand the action mechanisms, it is essential to determine the binding structure with atomic-level resolution. Although solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and X-ray crystallography have been used to determine molecular structures of cell membrane and membrane proteins, these methods are unable to reproduce the complexity of biological systems because either solubilization or crystallization of target molecules is requisite. For structural studies of insoluble non-crystalline biological samples, so-called "biological solids", high resolution distance measurements using solid-state NMR are indispensable techniques, of which rotational-echo double-resonance (REDOR) is one of the most widely used methods. In this paper, a brief introduction to REDOR NMR and its applications to structural studies on the antifungal amphotericin B-membrane phospholipid complex and a structural elucidation of photorespiration metabolites in plant cells without extraction or isolation is provided.

Dimethyl sulfoxide and ethanol elicit increased amyloid biogenesis and amyloid-integrated biofilm formation in Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli directs the assembly of functional amyloid fibers termed "curli" that mediate adhesion and biofilm formation. We discovered that E. coli exhibits a tunable and selective increase in curli protein expression and fiber assembly in response to moderate concentrations of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and ethanol. Furthermore, the molecular alterations resulted in dramatic functional phenotypes associated with community behavior, including (i) cellular agglutination in broth, (ii) altered colony morphology, and (iii) increased biofilm formation. Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of intact pellicles formed in the presence of [(13)C(2)]DMSO confirmed that DMSO was not being transformed and utilized directly for metabolism. Collectively, the chemically induced phenotypes emphasize the plasticity of E. coli's response to environmental stimuli to enhance amyloid production and amyloid-integrated biofilm formation. The data also support our developing model of the extracellular matrix as an organized assembly of polymeric components, including amyloid fibers, in which composition relates to bacterial physiology and community function.

Contribution of various carbon sources toward isoprene biosynthesis in poplar leaves mediated by altered atmospheric CO2 concentrations

Biogenically released isoprene plays important roles in both tropospheric photochemistry and plant metabolism. We performed a (13)CO(2)-labeling study using proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) to examine the kinetics of recently assimilated photosynthate into isoprene emitted from poplar (Populus × canescens) trees grown and measured at different atmospheric CO(2) concentrations. This is the first study to explicitly consider the effects of altered atmospheric CO(2) concentration on carbon partitioning to isoprene biosynthesis. We studied changes in the proportion of labeled carbon as a function of time in two mass fragments, M41(+), which represents, in part, substrate derived from pyruvate, and M69(+), which represents the whole unlabeled isoprene molecule. We observed a trend of slower (13)C incorporation into isoprene carbon derived from pyruvate, consistent with the previously hypothesized origin of chloroplastic pyruvate from cytosolic phosphenolpyruvate (PEP). Trees grown under sub-ambient CO(2) (190 ppmv) had rates of isoprene emission and rates of labeling of M41(+) and M69(+) that were nearly twice those observed in trees grown under elevated CO(2) (590 ppmv). However, they also demonstrated the lowest proportion of completely labeled isoprene molecules. These results suggest that under reduced atmospheric CO(2) availability, more carbon from stored/older carbon sources is involved in isoprene biosynthesis, and this carbon most likely enters the isoprene biosynthesis pathway through the pyruvate substrate. We offer direct evidence that extra-chloroplastic rather than chloroplastic carbon sources are mobilized to increase the availability of pyruvate required to up-regulate the isoprene biosynthesis pathway when trees are grown under sub-ambient CO(2).

Carbonic anhydrase and the molecular evolution of C4 photosynthesis

C(4) photosynthesis, a biochemical CO(2)-concentrating mechanism (CCM), evolved more than 60 times within the angiosperms from C(3) ancestors. The genus Flaveria, which contains species demonstrating C(3), C(3)-C(4), C(4)-like or C(4) photosynthesis, is a model for examining the molecular evolution of the C(4) pathway. Work with carbonic anhydrase (CA), and C(3) and C(4) Flaveria congeners has added significantly to the understanding of this process. The C(4) form of CA3, a β-CA, which catalyses the first reaction in the C(4) pathway by hydrating atmospheric CO(2) to bicarbonate in the cytosol of mesophyll cells (mcs), evolved from a chloroplastic C(3) ancestor. The molecular modifications to the ancestral CA3 gene included the loss of the sequence encoding the chloroplast transit peptide, and mutations in regulatory regions that resulted in high levels of expression in the C(4) mesophyll. Analyses of the CA3 proteins and regulatory elements from Flaveria photosynthetic intermediates indicated C(4) biochemistry very likely evolved in a specific, stepwise manner in this genus. The details of the mechanisms involved in the molecular evolution of other C(4) plant β-CAs are unknown; however, comparative genetics indicate gene duplication and neofunctionalization played significant roles as they did in Flaveria.

Ecological aspects of the distribution of different autotrophic CO2 fixation pathways

Autotrophic CO(2) fixation represents the most important biosynthetic process in biology. Besides the well-known Calvin-Benson cycle, five other totally different autotrophic mechanisms are known today. This minireview discusses the factors determining their distribution. As will be made clear, the observed diversity reflects the variety of the organisms and the ecological niches existing in nature.

An automated growth enclosure for metabolic labeling of Arabidopsis thaliana with 13C-carbon dioxide - an in vivo labeling system for proteomics and metabolomics research

Background

Labeling whole Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) plants to high enrichment with ¹³C for proteomics and metabolomics applications would facilitate experimental approaches not possible by conventional methods. Such a system would use the plant's native capacity for carbon fixation to ubiquitously incorporate ¹³C from ¹³CO₂ gas. Because of the high cost of ¹³CO₂ it is critical that the design conserve the labeled gas.

Results

A fully enclosed automated plant growth enclosure has been designed and assembled where the system simultaneously monitors humidity, temperature, pressure and ¹³CO₂ concentration with continuous adjustment of humidity, pressure and ¹³CO₂ levels controlled by a computer running LabView software. The enclosure is mounted on a movable cart for mobility among growth environments. Arabidopsis was grown in the enclosure for up to 8 weeks and obtained on average >95 atom% enrichment for small metabolites, such as amino acids and >91 atom% for large metabolites, including proteins and peptides.

Conclusion

The capability of this labeling system for isotope dilution experiments was demonstrated by evaluation of amino acid turnover using GC-MS as well as protein turnover using LC-MS/MS. Because this 'open source' Arabidopsis ¹³C-labeling growth environment was built using readily available materials and software, it can be adapted easily to accommodate many different experimental designs.

Modulation of the major paths of carbon in photorespiratory mutants of synechocystis

Background

Recent studies using transcript and metabolite profiles of wild-type and gene deletion mutants revealed that photorespiratory pathways are essential for the growth of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 under atmospheric conditions. Pool size changes of primary metabolites, such as glycine and glycolate, indicated a link to photorespiration.

Methodology/Principal Findings

The ¹³C labelling kinetics of primary metabolites were analysed in photoautotrophically grown cultures of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to demonstrate the link with photorespiration. Cells pre-acclimated to high CO₂ (5%, HC) or limited CO₂ (0.035%, LC) conditions were pulse-labelled under very high (2% w/w) ¹³C-NaHCO₃ (VHC) conditions followed by treatment with ambient ¹²C at HC and LC conditions, respectively. The ¹³C enrichment, relative changes in pool size, and ¹³C flux of selected metabolites were evaluated. We demonstrate two major paths of CO₂ assimilation via Rubisco in Synechocystis, i.e., from 3PGA via PEP to aspartate, malate and citrate or, to a lesser extent, from 3PGA via glucose-6-phosphate to sucrose. The results reveal evidence of carbon channelling from 3PGA to the PEP pool. Furthermore, ¹³C labelling of glycolate was observed under conditions thought to suppress photorespiration. Using the glycolate-accumulating ΔglcD1 mutant, we demonstrate enhanced ¹³C partitioning into the glycolate pool under conditions favouring photorespiration and enhanced ¹³C partitioning into the glycine pool of the glycine-accumulating ΔgcvT mutant. Under LC conditions, the photorespiratory mutants ΔglcD1 and ΔgcvT showed enhanced activity of the additional carbon-fixing PEP carboxylase pathway.

Conclusions/Significance

With our approach of non-steady-state ¹³C labelling and analysis of metabolite pool sizes with respective ¹³C enrichments, we identify the use and modulation of major pathways of carbon assimilation in Synechocystis in the presence of high and low inorganic carbon supplies.

Oxygen-17 appears only in protein in water-stressed soybean leaves labeled by (17)O2

We have used a rotational-echo adiabatic-passage double-resonance (13)C{(17)O} solid-state NMR experiment to prove that the glycine produced in the oxygenase reaction of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase is incorporated exclusively into protein (or protein precursors) of intact, water-stressed soybean leaves exposed to (13)CO(2) and (17)O(2). The water stress increased stomatal resistance and decreased gas exchange so that the Calvin cycle in the leaf chloroplasts was no more than 35% (13)C isotopically enriched. Labeled O(2) levels were sufficient, however, to increase the (17)O isotopic concentration of oxygenase products 20-fold over the natural-abundance level of 0.04%. The observed direct incorporation of glycine into protein shows that water stress suppresses photorespiration in soybean leaves.

Variability in C(3)-plant cell-wall biosynthesis in a high-CO(2) atmosphere by solid-state NMR spectroscopy

We have used a frequency-selective rotational-echo double-resonance (REDOR) solid-state NMR experiment to measure the concentrations of glycine-glycine pairs in proteins (and protein precursors) of intact leaves of plants exposed to both high- and low-CO(2) atomospheres. The results are interpreted in terms of differences in cell-wall biosynthesis between plant species. We illustrate this variability by comparing the assimilation of label in cheatgrass and soybean leaves labeled using (15)N-fertilizer and (13)CO(2) atmospheres. Cheatgrass and soybean are both C(3) plants but differ in their response to a high-CO(2) environment. Based on REDOR results, we determined that cheatgrass (a plant that seems likely to flourish in future low-water, high-CO(2) environments) routes 2% of the assimilated carbon label that remains in the leaf after 1 h in a 600-ppm (13)CO(2) atmosphere to glycine-rich protein (or its precursors), a structural component of cell walls cross-linked to lignins. In contrast, soybean under the same conditions routes none of its assimilated carbon to glycine-rich protein.

Recent developments in photorespiration research

Photorespiration is the light-dependent release of CO2 initiated by Rubisco (ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase) during oxygenic photosynthesis. It occurs during the biochemical reactions of the photorespiratory C2 cycle, which is an ancillary metabolic process that allows photosynthesis to occur in oxygen-containing environments. Recent research has identified the genes for many plant photorespiratory enzymes, allowing precise functional analyses by reverse genetics. Similar studies with cyanobacteria disclosed the evolutionary origin of photorespiratory metabolism in these ancestors of plastids.

Vancomycin and oritavancin have different modes of action in Enterococcus faecium

The increasing frequency of Enterococcus faecium isolates with multidrug resistance is a serious clinical problem given the severely limited number of therapeutic options available to treat these infections. Oritavancin is a promising new alternative in clinical development that has potent antimicrobial activity against both staphylococcal and enterococcal vancomycin-resistant pathogens. Using solid-state NMR to detect changes in the cell-wall structure and peptidoglycan precursors of whole cells after antibiotic-induced stress, we report that vancomycin and oritavancin have different modes of action in E. faecium. Our results show the accumulation of peptidoglycan precursors after vancomycin treatment, consistent with transglycosylase inhibition, but no measurable difference in cross-linking. In contrast, after oritavancin exposure, we did not observe the accumulation of peptidoglycan precursors. Instead, the number of cross-links is significantly reduced, showing that oritavancin primarily inhibits transpeptidation. We propose that the activity of oritavancin is the result of a secondary binding interaction with the E. faecium peptidoglycan. The hypothesis is supported by results from (13)C{(19)F} rotational-echo double-resonance (REDOR) experiments on whole cells enriched with l-[1-(13)C]lysine and complexed with desleucyl [(19)F]oritavancin. These experiments establish that an oritavancin derivative with a damaged d-Ala-d-Ala binding pocket still binds to E. faecium peptidoglycan. The (13)C{(19)F} REDOR dephasing maximum indicates that the secondary binding site of oritavancin is specific to nascent and template peptidoglycan. We conclude that the inhibition of transpeptidation by oritavancin in E. faecium is the result of the large number of secondary binding sites relative to the number of primary binding sites.

Practical Aspects of Uniform Stable Isotope Labeling of Higher Plants for Heteronuclear NMR-Based Metabolomics

Analytical methods for probing plant metabolism are taking on new significance in the era of functional genomics, metabolomics, and systems biology. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is becoming a key technology in plant metabolomics. Stable isotope labeling of cultured cells and higher organisms has been especially promising in that it allows the use of advanced heteronuclear NMR methodologies through a combination of in vivo and in vitro measurements. This new approach provides much better resolution of the metabolite mixture signals in the multidimensional NMR spectra than does the conventional one-dimensional 1H-NMR previously used in plant metabolomics. In this chapter, we describe the practical aspects of two key NMR technologies: uniform stable labeling of plants and in vitro heteronuclear NMR.

Double-quantum filtered rotational-echo double resonance

The homonuclear scalar coupling of a directly bonded 13C-13C pair has been used to create a double-quantum filter (DQF) to remove the natural-abundance 13C background in 13C{15N} rotational-echo double-resonance (REDOR) experiments. The DQF scalar and REDOR dipolar evolution periods are coincident which is important for sensitivity in the event of weak 13C-15N dipolar coupling. Calculated and observed 13C{15N} DQF-REDOR dephasings were in agreement for a test sample of mixed recrystallized labeled alanines. Glycine metabolism in a single uniform-15N soybean leaf labeled for 6 min by 13CO2 was measured quantitatively by 13C{15N} DQF-REDOR with no background interferences.