The role of photorespiration during the evolution of C4 photosynthesis in the genus Flaveria
- Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Germany
Abstract
C4 photosynthesis represents a most remarkable case of convergent evolution of a complex trait, which includes the reprogramming of the expression patterns of thousands of genes. Anatomical, physiological, and phylogenetic and analyses as well as computational modeling indicate that the establishment of a photorespiratory carbon pump (termed C2 photosynthesis) is a prerequisite for the evolution of C4. However, a mechanistic model explaining the tight connection between the evolution of C4 and C2 photosynthesis is currently lacking. Here we address this question through comparative transcriptomic and biochemical analyses of closely related C3, C3-C4, and C4 species, combined with Flux Balance Analysis constrained through a mechanistic model of carbon fixation. We show that C2 photosynthesis creates a misbalance in nitrogen metabolism between bundle sheath and mesophyll cells. Rebalancing nitrogen metabolism requires anaplerotic reactions that resemble at least parts of a basic C4 cycle. Our findings thus show how C2 photosynthesis represents a pre-adaptation for the C4 system, where the evolution of the C2 system establishes important C4 components as a side effect.
Article and author information
Author details
Copyright
© 2014, Mallmann et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
Metrics
-
- 6,385
- views
-
- 801
- downloads
-
- 179
- citations
Views, downloads and citations are aggregated across all versions of this paper published by eLife.
Citations by DOI
-
- 179
- citations for umbrella DOI https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.02478
Download links
A two-part list of links to download the article, or parts of the article, in various formats.
Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)
Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)
Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)
The role of photorespiration during the evolution of C4 photosynthesis in the genus Flaveria
eLife 3:e02478.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.02478
