ENDOGENOUS INORGANIC CARBON SOURCES IN PLANT HOTOSYNTHESIS

Abstract

The quantity of CO2 arising from photorespiration in angiosperms and in algae has been estimated. Much of such CO2 arises from the metabolism of glycolate so that estimates are based on the rate of formation of glycolate and the rate at which it is metabolized (Table 1). The total CO2 production in leaves or algae in the light can then be taken as equal to the photorespiratory CO2 plus the CO2 produced by‘dark’ respiratory pathways. Methods of estimating CO2 release from illuminated green tissues are considered and the rate of decarboxylation deduced from biochemical evidence of substrate turnover is compared with the observed rate of CO2 release; the difference between these values is reassimilation (Table 1). In angiosperms with the PGA pathway, in air, reassimilation is never complete and ranges from o to 0.6 of the endogenous CO2 production. This implies that the resistance to refixation is as great or greater than the resistance to loss of endogenous CO2 to the medium and is in accord with the relative values of these resistances based on other evidence. In law oxygen environment less glycolate is produced and hence less photorespiratory CO2; the resistance to refixation is smaller and so fractional reassimilation in increased. Unicellular algae have the PGA pathway and some appear to have more efficient reassimilation than the corresponding angiosperms. The special problems of metabolism in four carbon acid plants are discussed. Such plants show essentially complete reassimilation since they do not lose CO2 when illuminated. In their leaves the resistance to escape of endogenously produced CO2 must be very much greater than the resistance to refixation. The low resistance to refixation is probably related to high levels of CO2 in chloroplasts which are generated by the‘CO2‐pump’ rather than to any peculiarities of carboxydismutase. The importance of reassimilation is discussed in relation to the influence of CO2 on various aspects of metabolism, to isotopic discrimination in CO2 fixation and to the mechanism of the use of bicarbonate in photosynthesis. Copyright © 1972, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved