Environmental, hormonal and circadian regulation of crassulacean acid metabolism expression

2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 669 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tahar Taybi ◽  
John C. Cushman ◽  
Anne M. Borland

This paper originates from a presentation at the IIIrd International Congress on Crassulacean Acid Metabolism, Cape Tribulation, Queensland, Australia, August 2001. Expression of crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) is characterized by the extreme plasticity observed within and between species. Switches between C3 photosynthesis and CAM, and subsequent 24-h patterns of day/night CO2 uptake, are tightly controlled by a variety of environmental and metabolic factors that optimize the response of CAM plants to the most challenging environments over seasonal and daily time scales. Regulation of the genes and enzymes involved in CAM and connected metabolic pathways occurs at a number of levels (transcriptional through to post-translational). Such multiple levels of control are considered to be the key to the photosynthetic plasticity of CAM. Here, we review some of the primary environmental and hormonal factors controlling CAM plasticity in different CAM-inducible species, with emphasis on the regulatory signalling circuits responsible for this control. We also examine the inherent circadian regulation of the pathway, mainly in the context of the diel regulation of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase and the dedicated kinase that modulates its activity. We then consider the role of secondary signals, with emphasis on changes in cytosolic [Ca2+]i and the downstream signalling pathways, based on studies conducted on Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L. Besides representing an important metabolic adaptation, CAM provides an intriguing paradigm for studying the complex signalling mechanisms that control and coordinate the expression of genes under a variety of short- and long-term environmental perturbations.

2002 ◽  
Vol 140 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
PARK S NOBEL ◽  
EULOGIO PIMIENTA-BARRIOS ◽  
JULIA ZANUDO HERNANDEZ ◽  
BLANCA C RAMIREZ-HERNANDEZ

2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 749 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Haslam ◽  
Anne Borland ◽  
Howard Griffiths

This paper originates from a presentation at the IIIrd International Congress on Crassulacean Acid Metabolism, Cape Tribulation, Queensland, Australia, August 2001. The regulation and flexibility of the crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) pathway has been investigated in the 'extreme epiphyte' Tillandsia usneoides (L.). Submerging strands of T. usneoides under water, thereby inhibiting the supply of atmospheric CO2, allowed non-invasive in vivo manipulation of the supply of CO2 during the nocturnal Phase I of CAM. Once the plants were removed from submersion, T. usneoides maintained open stomata, and net CO2 uptake occurred throughout most of the photoperiod. Variability in the expression of CAM allowed T. usneoides to compensate for restricted CO2 availability through Phase I of CAM by adjusting gas exchange rates through the photoperiod and subsequent dark period to maintain a constant internal supply of CO2 in the light. Furthermore, T. usneoides demonstrated a gradual, rather than rapid, change in phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) activation across the day-night cycle, such that PEPC and Rubisco appear to work in tandem in order to maintain carbon balance for this extreme atmospheric bromeliad.


1999 ◽  
Vol 26 (8) ◽  
pp. 749 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph A.M. Holtum ◽  
Klaus Winter

Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) was observed in three species of tropical ferns, the epiphytes Microsorium punctatum and Polypodium crassifolium and the lithophyte Platycerium veitchii. Polypodium crassifolium and P. veitchii exhibited characteristics of weak CAM. Although no net nocturnal CO2 uptake was observed, the presence of CAM was inferred from nocturnal increases in titratable acidity of 4.7 and 4.1 µequiv (g fr wt)–1 respectively, a reduction in the rates of net CO2 evolution during the first half of the dark period, and the presence of a CAM-like decrease in net CO2 uptake during the early light period. In M. punctatum net CO2 uptake during the first half of the dark period was accompanied by an increase in titratable acidity of 39.2 µequiv (g fr wt)–1 and a pronounced reduction in net CO2 uptake during the early light period. When water was withheld from P. crassifolium and M. punctatum, net CO2 uptake during the light was reduced markedly but there was no change in the extent or patterns of CO2 exhange in the dark. As a consequence, the proportion of carbon gained due to CO2 fixation in the dark increased from 2.8 and 10% to 63.5 and 49.3%, respectively (100% being net CO2 uptake during the light plus the estimated CO2 uptake during the dark). After 9 days without added water, dark CO2 uptake was responsible for the maintenance of a net 24 h carbon gain in P. crassifolium. Platycerium veitchii, P. crassifolium and M. punctatum exhibited carbon isotope ratios of between –25.9 and –22.6‰ indicating that carbon isotope ratios may not, by themselves, be sufficient for the identification of weak CAM. We suggest that CAM may be more prevalent in tropical epiphytic and lithophytic ferns than currently envisaged.


2003 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 728-730 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.G. Nimmo

Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) plants exhibit persistent circadian rhythms of CO2 metabolism. These rhythms are driven by changes in the flux through phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase, which is regulated by reversible phosphorylation in response to a circadian oscillator. This article reviews progress in our understanding of the circadian expression of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase kinase.


GigaScience ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Zhang ◽  
Rongbin Hu ◽  
Avinash Sreedasyam ◽  
Travis M Garcia ◽  
Anna Lipzen ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM), a specialized mode of photosynthesis, enables plant adaptation to water-limited environments and improves photosynthetic efficiency via an inorganic carbon-concentrating mechanism. Kalanchoë fedtschenkoi is an obligate CAM model featuring a relatively small genome and easy stable transformation. However, the molecular responses to light quality and intensity in CAM plants remain understudied. Results Here we present a genome-wide expression atlas of K. fedtschenkoi plants grown under 12 h/12 h photoperiod with different light quality (blue, red, far-red, white light) and intensity (0, 150, 440, and 1,000 μmol m–2 s–1) based on RNA sequencing performed for mature leaf samples collected at dawn (2 h before the light period) and dusk (2 h before the dark period). An eFP web browser was created for easy access of the gene expression data. Based on the expression atlas, we constructed a light-responsive co-expression network to reveal the potential regulatory relationships in K. fedtschenkoi. Measurements of leaf titratable acidity, soluble sugar, and starch turnover provided metabolic indicators of the magnitude of CAM under the different light treatments and were used to provide biological context for the expression dataset. Furthermore, CAM-related subnetworks were highlighted to showcase genes relevant to CAM pathway, circadian clock, and stomatal movement. In comparison with white light, monochrome blue/red/far-red light treatments repressed the expression of several CAM-related genes at dusk, along with a major reduction in acid accumulation. Increasing light intensity from an intermediate level (440 μmol m−2 s−1) of white light to a high light treatment (1,000 μmol m–2 s–1) increased expression of several genes involved in dark CO2 fixation and malate transport at dawn, along with an increase in organic acid accumulation. Conclusions This study provides a useful genomics resource for investigating the molecular mechanism underlying the light regulation of physiology and metabolism in CAM plants. Our results support the hypothesis that both light intensity and light quality can modulate the CAM pathway through regulation of CAM-related genes in K. fedtschenkoi.


2020 ◽  
Vol 127 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-141
Author(s):  
Jacob S Suissa ◽  
Walton A Green

Abstract Background and Aims Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) is an adaptation to increase water use efficiency in dry environments. Similar biochemical patterns occur in the aquatic lycophyte genus Isoëtes. It has long been assumed and accepted that CAM-like behaviour in these aquatic plants is an adaptation to low daytime carbon levels in aquatic ecosystems, but this has never been directly tested. Methods To test this hypothesis, populations of Isoëtes engelmannii and I. tuckermanii were grown in climate-controlled chambers and starved of atmospheric CO2 during the day while pH was measured for 24 h. Key Results We demonstrate that terrestrial plants exposed to low atmospheric CO2 display diel acidity cycles similar to those in both xerophytic CAM plants and submerged Isoëtes. Conclusions Daytime CO2 starvation induces CAM-like nocturnal acid accumulation in terrestrial Isoëtes, substantiating the hypothesis that carbon starvation is a selective pressure for this physiological behaviour.


Planta ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 147 (5) ◽  
pp. 477-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Schnarrenberger ◽  
D. Gro� ◽  
Ch. Burkhard ◽  
M. Herbert

1982 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 409 ◽  
Author(s):  
DL Nott ◽  
CB Osmond

Phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) carboxylase was purified from three species of crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) plants. There was no evidence for isoenzymes of PEP carboxylase in these plants and the purified protein was an active dimer of Mr 220 000-250 000 which dissociated to a monomer of Mr 110 000 after treatment with sodium dodecyl sulfate. Active, higher aggregates could be obtained on Sepharose 6B but the functional significance, if any, of these remains to be assessed. In the absence of effectors, normal Michaelis-Menten kinetics were obtamed with the substrates HCO3- and PEP. The purified enzyme shows a preference for HCO3-, rather than CO2, at pH 6.1 and 8.1, with a Km (HCO3-) of 10-20 �M. The Vmax was relatively independent of pH between pH 5.5 and 8.5, but the Km (PEP) (like most other kinetic properties) was pH dependent with a minimum of about 0.1 mM PEP at pH 6.8. Malate inhibition was more effective at pH 6.2 than at pH 8.2, and the inhibition evidently involved a slow binding of malate which increased the Km (PEP) and resulted in non-hyperbolic kinetics. The Km (PEP) was lowered about 5-10-fold by 1.0 mM glucose 6-phosphate which also overcame malate inhibition and restored hyperbolic kinetic relationships in the presence of malate. Possible roles for these properties in the regulation of CAM are discussed.


2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 679 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Maxwell

This paper originates from a presentation at the IIIrd International Congress on Crassulacean Acid Metabolism, Cape Tribulation, Queensland, Australia, August 2001 Diurnal patterns of photosynthesis in response to environmental variables were investigated in an obligate C3 and a facultative C3-crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) bromeliad species. A midday depression of photosynthesis occurred in both C3 groups, mediated as a decrease in stomatal conductance in response to increased vapour pressure difference. The response was associated with a reduction in Rubisco activation state during the period of maximum photon flux density. In contrast, the switch to CAM resulted in a strong shift in the pattern of Rubisco carbamylation, with full enzyme activation delayed until the midday period. For the first time it is demonstrated that the pattern of Rubisco activation differs between C3 and CAM plants of the same species under identical conditions. Despite large differences in Rubisco content between C3 and CAM plants, neither the amount of Rubisco or enzyme activity is thought to be limiting for photosynthesis, and it is suggested that Rubisco may function as a nitrogen store. Extreme CO2 diffusion limitation resulted in low rates of atmospheric CO2 assimilation that were associated with high rates of photosynthetic electron transport, and it is likely that photorespiration constitutes a significant electron sink over the entire diurnal course. Leaf morphological and physiological adaptations to drought stress are necessary for the epiphytic lifestyle but limit CO2 assimilation and confound the likelihood of high productivity.


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