Carbon partitioning and export in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana with altered capacity for sucrose synthesis grown at low temperature: a role for metabolite transporters

We investigated the role of metabolite transporters in cold acclimation by comparing the responses of wild-type (WT) Arabidopsis thaliana (Heynh.) with that of transgenic plants over-expressing sucrose-phosphate synthase (SPSox) or with that of antisense repression of cytosolic fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (FBPas). Plants were grown at 23 degrees C and then shifted to 5 degrees C. We compared the leaves shifted to 5 degrees C for 3 and 10 d with new leaves that developed at 5 degrees C with control leaves on plants at 23 degrees C. At 23 degrees C, ectopic expression of SPS resulted in 30% more carbon being fixed per day and an increase in sucrose export from source leaves. This increase in fixation and export was supported by increased expression of the plastidic triose-phosphate transporter AtTPT and, to a lesser extent, the high-affinity Suc transporter AtSUC1. The improved photosynthetic performance of the SPSox plants was maintained after they were shifted to 5 degrees C and this was associated with further increases in AtSUC1 expression but with a strong repression of AtTPT mRNA abundance. Similar responses were shown by WT plants during acclimation to low temperature and this response was attenuated in the low sucrose producing FBPas plants. These data suggest that a key element in recovering flux through carbohydrate metabolism in the cold is to control the partitioning of metabolites between the chloroplast and the cytosol, and Arabidopsis modulates the expression of AtTPT to maintain balanced carbon flow. Arabidopsis also up-regulates the expression of AtSUC1, and to lesser extent AtSUC2, as down-stream components facilitate sucrose transport in leaves that develop at low temperatures.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Changes in activities of enzymes of carbon metabolism in leaves during exposure of plants to low temperature

The aim of this study was to determine the response of photosynthetic carbon metabolism in spinach and bean to low temperature, (a) Exposure of warm-grown spinach and bean plants to 10°C for 10 days resulted in increases in the total activities of a number of enzymes, including ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (Rubisco), stromal fructose 1,6 bisphosphatase (Fru 1,6-P2ase), sedoheptulose 1,7-bisphosphatase (Sed 1,7-P2ase), and the cytosolic Fru 1,6-P2ase. In spinach, but not bean, there was an increase in the total activity of sucrose-phosphate synthase. (b) The CO2-saturated rates of photosynthesis for the colda-cclimated spinach plants were 68 greater at 10°C than those for warm-acclimated plants, whereas in bean, rates of photosynthesis at 10°C were very low after exposure to low temperature, (c) When spinach leaf discs were transferred from 27 to 10°C, the stromal Fru 1,6-P2ase and NAOP-malate dehydrogenase were almost fully activated within 8 minutes, and Rubisco reached 90 of full activation within 15 minutes of transfer. An initial restriction of Calvin cycle fluxes was evident as an increase in the amounts of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate, glycerate-3-phosphate, Fru 1,6-P2, and Sed 1,7-P2. In bean, activation of stromal Fru 1,6-P2ase was weak, whereas the activation state of Rubisco decreased during the first few minutes after transfer to low temperature. However, NADP-malate dehydrogenase became almost fully activated, showing that no loss of the capacity for reductive activation occurred, (d) Temperature compensation in spinach evidently involves increases in the capacities of a range of enzymes, achieved in the short term by an increase in activation state, whereas long-term acclimation is achieved by an increase in the maximum activities of enzymes. The inability of bean to activate fully certain Calvin cycle enzymes and sucrose-phosphate synthase, or to increase nonphotochemical quenching of chlorophyll fluorescence at 10°C, may be factors contributing to its poor performance at low temperature