Photosynthesis and fluorescence quenching, and the mRNA levels of plastidic glutamine synthetase or of mitochondrial serine hydroxymethyltransferase (SHMT) in the leaves of the wild-type and of the SHMT-deficient stm mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana in relation to the rate of photorespiration

Abstract.

The regulation by photorespiration of the transcript level corresponding to plastidic glutamine synthetase (GS-2) was investigated in the leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh.. Photorespiration was suppressed by growing the plants in an atmosphere containing 300 Pa CO₂. Suppression of photorespiration was demonstrated by the ability of the conditionally lethal serine hydroxymethyltransferase (SHMT)-deficient stm mutant of A. thaliana to grow normally under these conditions. In contrast to previous studies with bean or pea that were performed at very high CO₂ partial pressure (2–4 kPa; Edwards and Coruzzi, 1989, Plant Cell 1: 241–248; Cock et al., 1991, Plant Mol Biol 17: 761–771), suppression of photorespiration during growth of A. thaliana in an atmosphere with 300 Pa CO₂ had no effect on the leaf GS-2 transcript level. In the short term, neither suppression of photorespiration induced by the transfer of air-grown A. thaliana plants into a CO₂-enriched atmosphere, nor an increase in the rate of photorespiration achieved by the transfer of high-CO₂-grown A. thaliana plants into air resulted in a change in the GS-2 mRNA level. The absence of photorespiratory ammonium release in leaves of the stm mutant had no effect on the GS-2 transcript level. Overall, our data argue against a control by photorespiration of the A. thaliana leaf GS-2 mRNA pool. In contrast, regulation of the leaf SHMT mRNA level may involve a negative feedback effect of at least one metabolite derived from the glycine/serine conversion during photorespiration, as indicated by the overexpression of SHMT transcripts in the leaves of the stm mutant.