title: Glycine decarboxylase controls photosynthesis and plant growth.
abstract: Photorespiration makes oxygenic photosynthesis possible by scavenging 2-phosphoglycolate. Hence, compromising photorespiration impairs photosynthesis. We examined whether facilitating photorespiratory carbon flow in turn accelerates photosynthesis and found that overexpression of the H-protein of glycine decarboxylase indeed considerably enhanced net-photosynthesis and growth of Arabidopsis thaliana. At the molecular level, lower glycine levels confirmed elevated GDC activity in vivo, and lower levels of the CO(2) acceptor ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate indicated higher drain from CO(2) fixation. Thus, the photorespiratory enzyme glycine decarboxylase appears as an important feed-back signaller that contributes to the control of the Calvin-Benson cycle and hence carbon flow through both photosynthesis and photorespiration.
authors.affiliation: Plant Physiology Department, University of Rostock, D-18051 Rostock, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Timm
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Florian
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arrivault
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stitt
authors.forename: Alisdair R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Fernie
authors.forename: Hermann
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bauwe
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism*; D037142:Flaveria / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D005998:Glycine / Q000378:metabolism; D050841:Glycine Dehydrogenase (Decarboxylating) / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010788:Photosynthesis; D012274:Ribulosephosphates / Q000378:metabolism; D014170:Transformation, Genetic
chemical_list: D012274:Ribulosephosphates; C001933:ribulose-1,5 diphosphate; D050841:Glycine Dehydrogenase (Decarboxylating); D005998:Glycine