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Photorespiration has been considered a 'futile' cycle in C3 plants, necessary to detoxify and recycle the metabolites generated by the oxygenating activity of Rubisco. However, several reports indicate that this metabolic route plays a fundamental role in plant metabolism and constitutes a very interesting research topic. Many open questions still remain with regard to photorespiration. One of these questions is how the photorespiratory process is regulated in plants and what factors contribute to this regulation. In this review, we summarize recent advances in the regulation of the photorespiratory pathway with a special focus on the transcriptional and post-translational regulation of photorespiration and the interconnections of this process with nitrogen and sulfur metabolism. Recent findings on sulfide signaling and protein persulfidation are also described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An adequate carbon supply is fundamental for plants to thrive under ammonium stress. In this work, we studied the mechanisms involved in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) response to ammonium toxicity when grown under ambient or elevated CO2 conditions (400 or 800 p.p.m. CO2). Tomato roots were observed to be the primary organ dealing with ammonium nutrition. We therefore analyzed nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) metabolism in the roots, integrating the physiological response with transcriptomic regulation. Elevated levels of CO2 preferentially stimulated root growth despite the high ammonium content. The induction of anaplerotic enzymes from the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle led to enhanced amino acid synthesis under ammonium nutrition. Furthermore, the root transcriptional response to ammonium toxicity was improved by CO2- enriched conditions, leading to higher expression of stressrelated genes, as well as enhanced modulation of genes related to signaling, transcription, transport and hormone metabolism. Tomato roots exposed to ammonium stress also showed a defense-like transcriptional response according to the modulation of genes related to detoxification and secondary metabolism, involving principally terpenoid and phenolic compounds. These results indicate that increasing C supply allowed the co-ordinated regulation of root defense mechanisms when dealing with ammonium toxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recycling of the 2-phosphoglycolate generated by the oxygenase reaction of Rubisco requires a complex and energy-consuming set of reactions collectively known as the photorespiratory cycle. Several approaches aimed at reducing the rates of photorespiratory energy or carbon loss have been proposed, based either on screening for natural variation or by means of genetic engineering. Recent work indicates that plant yield can be substantially improved by the alteration of photorespiratory fluxes or by engineering artificial bypasses to photorespiration. However, there is also evidence indicating that, under certain environmental and/or nutritional conditions, reduced photorespiratory capacity may be detrimental to plant performance. Here we summarize recent advances obtained in photorespiratory engineering and discuss prospects for these advances to be transferred to major crops to help address the globally increasing demand for food and biomass production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrogen is one of the most important nutrients for plants and, in natural soils, its availability is often a major limiting factor for plant growth. Here we examine the effect of different forms of nitrogen nutrition and of photorespiration on gene expression in the model legume Lotus japonicus with the aim of identifying regulatory candidate genes co-ordinating primary nitrogen assimilation and photorespiration. The transcriptomic changes produced by the use of different nitrogen sources in leaves of L. japonicus plants combined with the transcriptomic changes produced in the same tissue by different photorespiratory conditions were examined. The results obtained provide novel information on the possible role of plastidic glutamine synthetase in the response to different nitrogen sources and in the C/N balance of L. japonicus plants. The use of gene co-expression networks establishes a clear relationship between photorespiration and primary nitrogen assimilation and identifies possible transcription factors connected to the genes of both routes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photorespiration is an essential high flux metabolic pathway that is found in all oxygen-producing photosynthetic organisms. It is often viewed as a closed metabolic repair pathway that serves to detoxify 2-phosphoglycolic acid and to recycle carbon to fuel the Calvin-Benson cycle. However, this view is too simplistic since the photorespiratory cycle is known to interact with several primary metabolic pathways, including photosynthesis, nitrate assimilation, amino acid metabolism, C1 metabolism and the Krebs (TCA) cycle. Here we will review recent advances in photorespiration research and discuss future priorities to better understand (i) the metabolic integration of the photorespiratory cycle within the complex network of plant primary metabolism and (ii) the importance of photorespiration in response to abiotic and biotic stresses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the metabolic consequences of photorespiratory ammonium accumulation in Lotus japonicus using omics approaches and highlights the crucial importance of asparaginase in nitrogen remobilization in this plant.This review summarizes the most recent results obtained in the analysis of two important metabolic pathways involved in the release of internal sources of ammonium in the model legume Lotus japonicus: photorespiratory metabolism and asparagine breakdown mediated by aparaginase (NSE). The use of photorespiratory mutants deficient in plastidic glutamine synthetase (GS2) enabled us to investigate the transcriptomics and metabolomic changes associated with photorespiratory ammonium accumulation in this plant. The results obtained indicate the existence of a coordinate regulation of genes involved in photorespiratory metabolism. Other types of evidence illustrate the multiple interconnections existing among the photorespiratory pathway and other processes such as intermediate metabolism, nodule function, and secondary metabolism in this plant, all of which are substantially affected in GS2-deficient mutants because of the impairment of the photorespiratory cycle. Finally, the importance of asparagine metabolism in L. japonicus is highlighted because of the fact that asparagine constitutes the vast majority of the reduced nitrogen translocated between different organs of this plant. The different types of NSE enzymes and genes which are present in L. japonicus are described. There is a particular focus on the most abundant K+-dependent LjNSE1 isoform and how TILLING mutants were used to demonstrate by reverse genetics the importance of this particular isoform in plant growth and seed production. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The transcriptomic and metabolic consequences of the lack of plastidic glutamine (Gin) synthetase in the model legume Lotus japonicus were investigated. Wild-type and mutant plants lacking the plastidic isoform of Gin synthetase were grown in conditions that suppress photorespiration and then transferred for different lengths of time to photorespiratory conditions. Transcript and metabolite levels were determined at the different time points considered. Under photorespiratory active conditions, the mutant accumulated high levels of ammonium, followed by its subsequent decline. A coordinate repression of the photorespiratory genes was observed in the mutant background. This was part of a greater modulation of the transcriptome, especially in the mutant, that was paralleled by changes in the levels of several key metabolites. The data obtained for the mutant represent the first direct experimental evidence for a coordinate regulation of photorespiratory genes over time. Metabolomic analysis demonstrated that mutant plants under active photorespiratory conditions accumulated high levels of several amino acids and organic acids, including intermediates of the Krebs cycle. An increase in Gin levels was also detected in the mutant, which was paralleled by an increase in cytosolic Gin synthetasel gene transcription and enzyme activity levels. The global panoramic of the transcripts and metabolites that changed in L. japonicus plants during the transfer from photorespiration-suppressed to photorespiration-active conditions highlighted the link between photorespiration and several other cellular processes, including central carbon metabolism, amino acid metabolism, and secondary metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes some recent advances in the understanding of nitrate assimilation in the model legume Lotus japonicus. First, different types of experimental evidence are presented that emphasize the importance of the root in the nitrate-reducing assimilatory processes in this plant. Secondly, the main results from an ethyl methanesulphonate mutagenesis programme are presented. In this programme, chlorate-resistant and photorespiratory mutants were produced and characterized. The phenotype of one particular chlorate-resistant mutant suggested the importance of a low-affinity nitrate transport system for growth of L. japonicus plants under nitrate nutrition. The phenotype of photorespiratory mutants, affected in all forms of plastid glutamine synthetase in leaves, roots, and nodules, indicated that plastid glutamine synthetase was not required for primary nitrate assimilation nor for the symbiotic associations of the plant (nodulation, mycorrhization), provided photorespiration was suppressed. However, the phenotype of these mutants confirmed that plastid glutamine synthetase was required for the reassimilation of ammonium released by photorespiration. Finally, different aspects of the relationship between nitrate assimilation and osmotic stress in L. japonicus are also discussed, with specific reference to the biosynthesis of proline as an osmolyte. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Ammonium is a primary source of nitrogen for plants. In legume plants ammonium can also be obtained by symbiotic nitrogen fixation, and NH4+ is also a regulator of early and late symbiotic interaction steps. Ammonium transporters are likely to play important roles in the control of nodule formation as well as in nitrogen assimilation. Two new genes, LjAMT1;2 and LjAMT1;3, were cloned from Lotus japonicus. Both were able to complement the growth defect of a yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) ammonium transport mutant. Measurement of [14C]methylammonium uptake rates and competition experiments revealed that each transporter had a high affinity for NH4+. The Ki for ammonium was 1.7, 3, and 15 µm for LjAMT1;1, 1;2, and 1;3, respectively. Real-time PCR revealed higher expression of LjAMT1;1, 1;2, and 1;3 genes in leaves than in roots and nodule, with expression levels decreasing in the order LjAMT1;1 > 1;2 > 1;3 except in flowers, in which LjAMT1;3 was expressed at higher level than in leaves, and LjAMT1;1 showed the lowest level of expression. Expression of LjAMT1;1 and 1;2 in roots was induced by nitrogen deprivation. Expression of LjAMT1;1 was repressed in leaves exposed to elevated CO2 concentrations, which also suppress photorespiration. Tissue and cellular localization of LjAMT1 genes expression, using promoter-β-glucuronidase and in situ RNA hybridization approaches, revealed distinct cellular spatial localization in different organs, including nodules, suggesting differential roles in the nitrogen metabolism of these organs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]