ALBERT

Notes: Plant cells require a co-ordination of metabolism between their major compartments, the plastids and the cytosol, in particular as certain metabolic pathways are confined to either compartments. The inner envelope membrane of the plastids forms the major barrier for metabolite exchange and is the site for numerous transport proteins, which selectively catalyse metabolite exchanges characteristic for green and/or non-green tissues. This report is focused on the molecular biology, evolution and physiological function of the family of phosphate translocators (PT) from plastids. Until now, four distinct subfamilies have been identified and characterized, which all share inorganic phosphate as common substrate, but have different spectra of counter exchange substrates to fulfil the metabolic needs of individual cells and tissues. The PTs are named after their main transported substrate, triose phosphate (TPT), phosphoenolpyruvate (PPT), glucose 6-phosphate (GPT) and xylulose 5-P (XPT). All PTs belong to the TPT/nucleotide sugar transporter (NST) superfamily, which includes yet uncharacterized PT homologues from plants and other eukaryotes. Transgenic plants or mutants with altered transport activity of some of the PTs have been generated or isolated. The analysis of these plant lines revealed new insights in the co-ordination and flexibility of plant metabolism.

Notes: Abstract Heterozygous plants of barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Maris Mink) with activities of chloroplastic glutamine synthetase (GS) between 47‰ and 97‰ of the wild-type and ferredoxin-dependent glutamate synthase (Fd-GOGAT) activities down to 63‰ of the wild-type have been used to study the control of photosynthetic fluxes. Rates of CO2 assimilation measured over a range of intercellular CO2 concentrations and photon flux densities (PFDs) were little different in the wild-type and a mutant with 47‰ GS, although total activities of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) decreased by about 20‰ with a decrease in GS to 50‰ of the wild-type. The quantum efficiencies of photosystem II electron transport (ΦPSII and CO2 assimilation ΦCO2) were determined. ΦPSII was lower than expected in mutants with 50‰ less GS under conditions which enhance the photorespiratory flux, but were identical to the wild-type under non-photorespiratory conditions, suggesting that at high rates of photorespiration the electron requirement for net CO2 assimilation declines in plants with decreased GS. This discrepancy in the electron requirement between the wild-type and the 47‰ GS mutant was enhanced at high temperatures and low CO2, conditions which favour oxygenation by Rubisco. Photochemical and non-photochemical chlorophyll a fluorescence quenching as well as the quantum efficiency of excitation-energy capture by open photosystem II reaction centres were differentially affected in mutants with less GS relative to the wild-type when CO2 was lowered or the PFD was varied. The quantum efficiencies of electron transport in photosystems I and II were closely correlated under a range of PFDs and CO2 concentrations, confirming that the rate of linear electron transport was much lower in plants with less GS. It is shown that GS exerts considerable control (flux control coefficients between 0.5 and 1.0) on the electron requirement for CO2 assimilation at high fluxes of photorespiration relative to CO2 assimilation. Apart from the control of GS on protein and Rubisco contents, GS in the wild-type has also some direct positive control on CO2 assimilation. However, negative control on CO2 assimilation was found in mutants with 50‰ less GS. These data, taken with the data on electron requirements for CO2 assimilation, suggest that CO2-fixing processes other than that catalysed by Rubisco, such as carboxylation of phosphoenolpyruvate, or an inhibition of photorespiration (e.g. glycine decarboxylation), may contribute to the observed CO2 exchange and photosystem II electron transport in plants with less GS. In the 63‰-Fd-GOGAT mutant, rates of CO2 assimilation were appreciably lower than in the wild-type under a range of PFDs and CO2 concentrations, which largely reflected lower contents of Rubisco in the Fd-GOGAT mutants. Assimilation of CO2 was inhibited appreciably at high CO2 concentrations. There was little difference in the electron requirement for CO2 assimilation between the wild-type and mutants with less Fd-GOGAT, although there were indications that a triose-phosphate/glycerate-3-phosphate shuttle or cyclic electron transport operates to balance ATP generation and NADP reduction. The latter was supported by a curvilinear relationship of photosystem I and II electron transport in the 63‰ Fd-GOGAT mutant. A positive control is exerted by Fd-GOGAT on the amounts of protein and Rubisco and on CO2 assimilation.

Notes: Abstract. Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) plants were transformed with an antisense construct of the chloroplast triose phosphate/phosphate translocator (TPT). Three transformant lines of the T4 progeny, which showed a large decrease in the transcript level of the TPT were used for further biochemical and physiological characterisation. In all antisense lines tested, TPT transport activity was diminished by 50–70% compared with the wild type (WT). Despite this high reduction in the transport capacity, αTPT plants lacked any visible phenotype. Hexokinase and α-amylase activities were increased in αTPT plants compared with the WT, whereas activities of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase and ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (AGPase) were not affected. At the end of a 14-h light period, leaf starch contents in αTPT lines were similar to those of the WT and controls, indicating that a decrease in the TPT had no effect on starch accumulation. Sucrose contents were diminished by more than 50% in αTPT lines compared with control plants. The time course of starch accumulation revealed a transient increase in the starch content in a selected αTPT line after 6 h in the light, followed by a decrease towards the end of the light period. Labelling with 14C indicated that during the dark and light (late afternoon) periods starch is mobilised at higher rates in αTPT lines than in the controls. Glucose/fructose ratios at the end of the dark period were increased from 1.2 in control plants to 2 in αTPT lines indicating increased amylolytic starch degradation. Initial rates of [14C] glucose transport in isolated chloroplasts were increased by a factor of 2–3 in αTPT plants compared with the WT. Rates of CO2 assimilation were substantially diminished in the αTPT lines in high CO2 and low O2, but remained unaffected in ambient CO2. The rate of photosynthetic electron transport during the induction of photosynthesis in saturating CO2 exhibited pronounced oscillations only in WT and control plants. Oscillations were less pronounced in αTPT plants, indicating that phosphate limitation of photosynthesis is lowered in αTPT plants compared with the WT. It is proposed that photoassimilates are more readily directed into starch biosynthesis in αTPT plants. This is supported by determinations of 3-phosphoglycerate levels (an activator of AGPase) during the transition from dark to light in high CO2.

Notes: Abstract.  The physiological properties of transgenic tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum L.) with decreased or increased transport capacities of the chloroplast triose phosphate/phosphate translocator (TPT) were compared in order to investigate the extent to which the TPT controls metabolic fluxes in wild-type tobacco. For this purpose, tobacco lines with an antisense repression of the endogenous TPT (αTPT) and tobacco lines overexpressing the TPT gene isolated from the C4 plant Flaveria trinervia (FtTPT) were used. The F. trinervia TPT expressed in yeast cells exhibited transport characteristics identical to the TPT from C3 plants. Neither antisense TPT plants nor FtTPT overexpressors showed a phenotype when grown in a greenhouse in air. Contents of starch and soluble sugars in upper source leaves were similar in TPT underexpressors and FtTPT overexpressors compared to the wild type at the end of the photoperiod. The FtTPT overexpressors incorporated more 14CO2 in sucrose than the wild type, indicating that the TPT limits sucrose biosynthesis in the wild type. There were only small effects on labelling of amino acids and organic acids. The mobilisation of starch was enhanced in αTPT lines but decreased in FtTPT overexpressors compared to the wild type. Enzymes involved in starch mobilisation or utilisation, such as α-amylase or hexokinase were increased in αTPT plants and, in the case of amylases, decreased in FtTPT overexpressors. Moreover, α-amylase activity exhibited a pronounced diurnal variation in αTPT lines with a maximum activity after 8 h in the light. These changes in starch hydrolytic activities were confirmed by activity staining of native gels. Activities of glucan phosphorylases were unaffected by either a decrease or an increase in TPT activity. There were also effects of TPT activities on steady-state levels of phosphorylated intermediates as well as total amino acids and malate. In air, there was no or little effect of altered TPT transport activity on either rates of photosynthetic electron transport and/or CO2 assimilation. However, in elevated CO2 (1500 μl · l−1) and low O2 (2%) the rate of CO2 assimilation was decreased in the αTPT lines and was slightly higher in FtTPT lines. This shows that the TPT limits maximum rates of photosynthesis in the wild type.

Notes: Abstract Heterozygous mutants of barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Maris Mink) with decreased activities of chloroplastic glutamine synthetase (GS) between 97 and 47% of the wild type and ferredoxin dependent glutamate synthase (Fd-GOGAT) down to 64% of the wild type have been used to study aspects of glyoxylate metabolism and the effect of glyoxylate on the activation state of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) in vivo. In the leaf, the extractable activities of serine:glyoxylate aminotransferase decreased with a decrease in GS whereas activities of glutamate and alanine:glyoxylate aminotransferase increased, pointing to a re direction of amino donors from serine to glutamate and alanine. Under ambient conditions, the leaf contents of glutamate and alanine declined continuously with a decrease in GS, in parallel with the decrease in total amino acids. Glycine, serine and asparagine contents decreased with a decrease in GS to approximately 70% of the wild type, but increased again with a further decrease in GS. At high irradiances and at low CO2 concentrations, glyoxylate contents exhibited a pronounced minimum between 60% and 80% GS. With a further decrease in GS, glyoxylate contents recovered and approached values similar to the wild type. The activation state of Rubisco showed a negative correlation with glyoxylate contents, indicating that a decrease in GS feeds back on the first step of carbon assimilation and photorespiration. The activation state of stromal fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase was unaffected by a decrease in GS or Fd-GOGAT, whereas the activation state of NADP dependent malate dehydrogenase changed in a complex manner. The CO2photocompensation point, Γ*, was appreciably increased in mutants with 47% GS. ‘Mitochondrial respiration’ in the light (Rd) was reduced with a decrease in GS. Relative rates of CO2 release into CO2-free air between the wild type and the 47%-GS mutant correlated with determinations of Γ*. These data are consistent with the view that when GS is decreased there is an increased oxidative decarboxylation of glyoxylate resulting from a decreased availability of amino donors for the transamination of glyoxylate to glycine, and that when GS activities are lower than 70% of the wild type an additional mechanism operates to reduce the photorespiratory loss of ammonia.

Notes: Abstract Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) genes from Corynebacterium glutamicum (cppc), Escherichia coli (eppc) or Flaveria trinervia (fppc) were transferred to Solanum tuberosum. Plant regenerants producing foreign PEPC were identified by Western blot analysis. Maximum PEPC activities measured in eppc and fppc plants grown in the greenhouse were doubled compared to control plants. For cppc a transgenic plant line could be selected which exhibited a fourfold increase in PEPC activity. In the presence of acetyl-CoA, a known activator of the procaryotic PEPC, a sixfold higher activity level was observed. In cppc plants grown in axenic culture PEPC activities were even higher. There was a 6-fold or 12-fold increase in the PEPC activities compared to the controls measured in the absence or presence of acetyl-CoA, respectively. Comparable results were obtained by transient expression in Nicotiana tabacum protoplasts. PEPC of C. glutamicum (PEPC C.g.) in S. tuberosum leaf extracts displays its characteristic K m(PEP) value. Plant growth was examined with plants showing high expression of PEPC and, moreover, with a plant cell line expressing and antisense S. tuberosum (anti-sppc) gene. In axenic culture the growth rate of a cppc plant cell line was appreciably diminished, whereas growth rates of an anti-sppc line were similar or slightly higher than in controls. Malate levels were increased in cppc plants and decreased in antisense plants. There were no significant differences in photosynthetic electron transport or steady state CO2 assimilation between control plants and transformants overexpressing PEPC C.g. or anti-sppc plants. However, a prolonged dark treatment resulted in a delayed induction of photosynthetic electron transport in plants with less PEPC. Rates of CO2 release in the dark determined after a 45 min illumination period at a high proton flux density were considerably enhanced in cppc plants and slightly diminished in anti-sppc plants. When CO2 assimilation rates were corrected for estimated rates of mitochondrial respiration in the light, the electron requirement for CO2 assimilation determined in low CO2 was slightly lower in transformants with higher PEPC, whereas transformants with decreased PEPC exhibited an appreciably elevated electron requirement. The CO2 compensation point remained unchanged in plants (cppc) with high PEPC activity, but might be increased in an antisense plant cell line. Stomatal opening was delayed in antisense plants, but was accelerated in plants overexpressing PEPC C.g. compared to the controls.

Notes: Abstract Wild-type and mutant plants of barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Maris Mink) lacking activities of chloroplastic glutamine synthetase (GS) and of ferredox-in-dependent glutamate synthase (Fd-GOGAT) were crossed to generate heterozygous plants. Crosses of the F2 generation containing GS activities between 47‰ and 97‰ of the wild-type and Fd-GOGAT activities down to 63‰ of the wild-type have been selected to study the control of both enzymes on photorespiratory carbon and nitrogen metabolism. There were no major pleiotropic effects. Decreased GS had a small impact on leaf protein and the total activity of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase (Rubisco). The activation state of Rubisco was unaffected in air, but a decrease in GS influenced the activation state of Rubisco in low CO2. In illuminated leaves, the amino-acid content decreased with decreasing GS, while the content of ammonium rose, showing that even small reductions in GS limit ammonium re-assimilation and may bring about a loss of nitrogen from the plants, and hence a reduction in protein and Rubisco. Leaf amino-acid contents were restored, and ammonium and nitrate contents decreased, by leaving plants in the dark for 24 h. The ratios of serine to glycine decreased with a decrease in GS when plants were kept at moderate photon flux densities in air, suggesting a possible feedback on glycine decarboxylation. This effect was absent in high light and low CO2. Under these conditions ammonium contents exhibited an optimum and amino-acid contents a minimum at a GS activity of 65‰ of the wild-type, suggesting an inhibition of ammonium release in mutants with less than 65‰ GS. The leaf contents of glutamate, glutamine, aspartate, asparagine, and alanine largely followed changes in the total amino-acid contents determined under different environmental conditions. Decreased Fd-GOGAT resulted in a decrease in leaf protein, chlorophyll, Rubisco and nitrate contents. Chlorophyll a/b ratios and specific leaf fresh weight were lower than in the wild-type. Leaf ammonium contents were similar to the wild-type and total leaf amino-acid contents were only affected in low CO2 at high photon flux densities, but mutants with decreased Fd-GOGAT accumulated glutamine and contained less glutamate.

Notes: Abstract.  Transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) plants with decreased and increased transport capacities of the chloroplast triose phosphate/phosphate translocator (TPT) were used to study the control the TPT exerts on the flux of starch and sucrose biosynthesis, as well as CO2 assimilation, respiration and photosynthetic electron transport. For this purpose, tobacco lines with an antisense repression of the endogenous TPT (αTPT) and tobacco lines overexpressing a TPT gene from Flaveria trinervia (FtTPT) were used. In ambient CO2, there was no or little effect of altered TPT transport activities on either rates of photosynthetic electron transport and/or CO2 assimilation. However, in elevated CO2 (1500 μl · l−1) and low O2 (2%) the TPT exerted strong control on the rate of CO2 assimilation (control coefficient for the wild type; CJA TPT=0.30) in saturating light. Similarly, the incorporation of 14C into starch in high CO2 was increased in tobacco plants with decreased TPT activity, but was reduced in plants overexpressing the TPT from F. trinervia. Thus, the TPT exerted negative control on the rate of starch biosynthesis with a CJStarch TPT=−0.19 in the wild type estimated from a hyperbolic curve fitted to the data points. This was less than the positive control strength on the rate of sucrose biosynthesis (CJSuc TPT=0.35 in the wild type). Theoretically, the positive control exerted on sucrose biosynthesis should be numerically identical to the negative control on starch biosynthesis unless additional metabolic pathways are affected. The rate of dark respiration showed some correlation with the TPT activity in that it increased in FtTPT overexpressors, but decreased in αTPT plants with an apparent control coefficient of CJRes TPT=0.24. If the control on sucrose biosynthesis is referred to as “gain of carbon” (positive control) and the control on starch biosynthesis as well as dark respiration as a “loss of carbon” (negative control) for sucrose biosynthesis and subsequent export, the sum of the control coefficients on dark respiration and starch biosynthesis would be numerically similar to the control coefficient on the rate of sucrose biosynthesis. There was also some control on the rate of photosynthetic electron transport, but only at high light and in elevated CO2 combined with low O2. The control coefficient for the rate of photosynthetic electron transport was CJETR TPT=0.16 in the wild type. Control coefficients were also calculated for plants with elevated and lowered TPT activity. Furthermore, the extent to which starch degradation/glucose utilisation compensates for the lack of triose phosphate export was assessed. The TPT also exerted control on metabolite contents in air.