Photorespiration - how is it regulated and regulates overall plant metabolism?

Oxygenic photosynthesis requires photorespiration to operate under the current atmospheric conditions. In the presence of low CO2/O2 ratios, ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (rubisco) performs the oxygenase side reaction, leading to the formation of high 2-phosphoglycolate (2-PG) amounts during illumination. Given that 2-PG is a potent inhibitor of photosynthetic carbon fixation, it must be immediately removed through photorespiration. The core photorespiratory cycle is orchestrated across three interacting subcellular compartments, namely, chloroplasts, peroxisomes and mitochondria, and thus cross-talks with a multitude of other cellular processes. Over the past years, the metabolic interaction of photorespiration and photosynthetic CO2 fixation has attracted major interest because research has demonstrated the enhancement of C3 photosynthesis and growth through the genetic manipulation of photorespiration. However, to optimize future engineering approaches, it is also essential to improve our current understanding of photorespiration regulatory mechanisms. Here, we summarize recent progress that has been made regarding the steps that control carbon flux in photorespiration, eventually involving regulator proteins and metabolites. In this regard, both, genetic engineering and the identification of various layers of regulation, respectively, points to glycine decarboxylase (GDC) as the key enzyme to regulate and adjust the photorespiratory carbon flow. Potential implications of photorespiration regulation for acclimation to environmental changes and open questions are also discussed.

• Publication year

  2020

• Venue

  Journal of Experimental Botany

• Publication date

  2020-04-10

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine, Chemistry, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1093/jxb/eraa183PMID 32274517
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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