title: Can cyanobacteria serve as a model of plant photorespiration? - a comparative meta-analysis of metabolite profiles.
abstract: Photorespiration is a process that is crucial for the survival of oxygenic phototrophs in environments that favour the oxygenation reaction of Rubisco. While photorespiration is conserved among cyanobacteria, algae, and embryophytes, it evolved to different levels of complexity in these phyla. The highest complexity is found in embryophytes, where the pathway involves four cellular compartments and respective transport processes. The complexity of photorespiration in embryophytes raises the question whether a simpler system, such as cyanobacteria, may serve as a model to facilitate our understanding of the common key aspects of photorespiration. In this study, we conducted a meta-analysis of publicly available metabolite profiles from the embryophyte Arabidopsis thaliana and the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 grown under conditions that either activate or suppress photorespiration. The comparative meta-analysis evaluated the similarity of metabolite profiles, the variability of metabolite pools, and the patterns of metabolite ratios. Our results show that the metabolic signature of photorespiration is in part conserved between the compared model organisms under conditions that favour the oxygenation reaction. Therefore, our findings support the claim that cyanobacteria can serve as prokaryotic models of photorespiration in embryophytes.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam OT Golm, Germany.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Orf
authors.affiliation: Universität Rostock, Abteilung Pflanzenphysiologie, Albert-Einstein-Str. 3, 18059 Rostock, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Timm
authors.affiliation: Universität Rostock, Abteilung Pflanzenphysiologie, Albert-Einstein-Str. 3, 18059 Rostock, Germany.
authors.forename: Hermann
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bauwe
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam OT Golm, Germany.
authors.forename: Alisdair R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Fernie
authors.affiliation: Universität Rostock, Abteilung Pflanzenphysiologie, Albert-Einstein-Str. 3, 18059 Rostock, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hagemann
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam OT Golm, Germany kopka@mpimp-golm.mpg.de.
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9675-4883
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kopka
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam OT Golm, Germany.
authors.forename: Zoran
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Nikoloski
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D019669:Embryophyta / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D055442:Metabolome / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D010788:Photosynthesis / Q000502:physiology*; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena; D010944:Plants / Q000378:metabolism*
keywords: Arabidopsis; CO2 adaptation; Synechocystis.; meta-analysis; metabolomics; photorespiration