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. 1979 Sep;64(3):435–438. doi: 10.1104/pp.64.3.435

Enhanced Dark Carbon Dioxide Fixation in Maize

Effect of the Oxygen Concentration during Preillumination on 14CO2 Uptake and the Intramolecular Labeling Pattern of Malate and Aspartate

Elisabeth Creach 1
PMCID: PMC543108  PMID: 16660983

Abstract

The enhanced dark CO2 uptake after a preillumination period under varying O2 concentrations has been measured with maize, a C4 plant. For comparison the same study has been conducted with tomato, a C3 plant. Increasing the O2 concentration during preillumination inhibits by 70% the subsequent dark CO2 uptake in tomato but stimulates 2-fold this CO2 uptake in maize. The O2 enhancement of CO2 uptake in maize is due to the enhancement of malate and aspartate synthesis. The percentages of radioactivity incorporated in the C-4 of malate and aspartate vary from 74 to 87% when O2 concentration during preillumination is increased from 0 to 100%.

An interpretation of these data led to the conclusion that malate and aspartate formed during the light-enhanced dark fixation result from two competing carboxylation reactions: a single carboxylation of phosphoenolpyruvate and a double carboxylation involving ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylases. This latter route of carbon flow prevails when preillumination is carried out anaerobically. It appears that increasing O2 concentration stimulates phosphoenolpyruvate synthesis during preillumination and consequently favors the single carboxylation of phosphoenolpyruvate, leading to an increased percentage of radioactivity in the C-4 atom of malate and aspartate.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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