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Molecular evolution of C4 phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase in the genus Flaveria—a gradual increase from C3 to C4 characteristics

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Abstract

In order to elucidate the discrete steps in phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) evolution concerning K m-PEP and malate tolerance a comparison was made between C3, C3–C4 and C4 species of the dicot genus Flaveria. The PEPCs of this genus are encoded by a gene family comprising three classes: ppcA, ppcB and ppcC [J. Hermans and P. Westhoff (1990) Mol Gen Genet 224:459–468, (1992) Mol Gen Genet 234:275–284]. The ppcA of F trinervia (C4) codes for the C4 PEPC isoform but other plants of the genus contain ppcA orthologues too. The C3 plant F. pringlei showed the lowest levels of ppcA PEPC mRNA followed by F. pubescens (C3–C4) while the C4-like plant F. brownii displayed RNA amounts close to the C4 species F. trinervia. In contrast to the similar expression profiles of F. brownii (C4-like) and F. trinervia (C4) the PEPC amino acid sequence of F. brownii was more similar to the C3 and C3–C4 ppcA PEPCs than to the C4 PEPC. Similarly, the C3, C3–C4 and C4-like ppcA PEPCs showed almost identical PEP saturation kinetics when activated by glucose-6-phosphate (K m-PEP: 17–20 μM) while the K m-PEP for the C4 PEPC was determined to be 53 μM. However, without activation the ppcA PEPCs of F. pubescens and F. brownii displayed C3–C4 intermediate values. A similar picture was obtained when the malate sensitivities were compared. In the non-activated state the F. trinervia (C4) enzyme was 10 times more tolerant to malate than the F. pringlei counterpart. The ppcA enzymes of F. pubescens (C3–C4) and F. brownii (C4-like) displayed intermediate values. In contrast, the inclusion of 5 mM glucose-6-phosphate in the reaction mixture changed the order totally. Interestingly, the activation rendered the C4 enzyme about 50% less tolerant to malate than the C3 PEPC. The activation had a positive effect on malate tolerance of the F. pubescens (C3–C4) PEPC while the ppcA PEPC of F. brownii (C4-like) was almost unaffected.

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Abbreviations

Glc6P:

glucose-6-phosphate

PEP:

phosphoenolpyruvate

PEPC:

PEP carboxylase

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Graduiertenkolleg "Molekulare Physiologie" of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (P.W.), Fonds der Chemischen Industrie (P.W.) and the Carl Trygger Foundation (P.S.). Sascha Engelmann and Oliver E. Bläsing contributed equally to the work

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  1. Oliver E. Bläsing

    Present address: Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476, Golm, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 750 07, Uppsala, Sweden

    Per Svensson

  2. Institut für Entwicklungs- und Molekularbiologie der Pflanzen, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Sascha Engelmann, Oliver E. Bläsing, Udo Gowik & Peter Westhoff

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  1. Sascha Engelmann
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  2. Oliver E. Bläsing
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  5. Peter Westhoff
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Per Svensson.

Additional information

The nucleotide sequence data of the F. brownii ppcA and F. pubescens ppcA cDNA (FBPPCA966 and FPUBPPCA966) have been deposited in the EMBL, GenBank and DDBJ Nucleotide Sequence Databases under the accession numbers AF494191and AF494192, respectively.

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Engelmann, S., Bläsing, O.E., Gowik, U. et al. Molecular evolution of C4 phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase in the genus Flaveria—a gradual increase from C3 to C4 characteristics. Planta 217, 717–725 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-003-1045-0

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