title: Tracking the evolutionary rise of C4 metabolism.
abstract: Upregulation of the C4 metabolic cycle is a major step in the evolution of C4 photosynthesis. Why this happened remains unclear, in part because of difficulties measuring the C4 cycle in situ in C3-C4 intermediate species. Now, Alonso-Cantabrana and von Caemmerer (2016) have described a new approach for quantifying C4 cycle activity, thereby providing the means to analyze its upregulation in an evolutionary context.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto, ON MS3B2 Canada r.sage@utoronto.ca.
authors.forename: Rowan F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Sage
mesh_terms: D005075:Biological Evolution; D037142:Flaveria / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D010788:Photosynthesis / Q000502:physiology*; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena; D010944:Plants / Q000378:metabolism
keywords: C3-C4 intermediate species; C4 evolution; Carbon isotope discrimination; F. brownii; F. floridana; Flaveria; intermediate photosynthesis.