Ions channels/transporters and chloroplast regulation

Ions play fundamental roles in all living cells and their gradients are often essential to fuel transports, to regulate enzyme activities and to transduce energy within and between cells. Their homeostasis is therefore an essential component of the cell metabolism. Ions must be imported from the extracellular matrix to their final subcellular compartments. Among them, the chloroplast is a particularly interesting example because there, ions not only modulate enzyme activities, but also mediate ATP synthesis and actively participate in the building of the photosynthetic structures by promoting membrane-membrane interaction. In this review, we first provide a comprehensive view of the different machineries involved in ion trafficking and homeostasis in the chloroplast, and then discuss peculiar functions exerted by ions in the frame of photochemical conversion of absorbed light energy

The Main Functions of Plastids.

International audiencePlastids are semiautonomous organelles like mitochondria, and derive from a cyanobacterial ancestor that was engulfed by a host cell. During evolution, they have recruited proteins originating from the nuclear genome, and only parts of their ancestral metabolic properties were conserved and optimized to limit functional redundancy with other cell compartments. Furthermore, large disparities in metabolic functions exist among various types of plastids, and the characterization of their various metabolic properties is far from being accomplished. In this review, we provide an overview of the main functions, known to be achieved by plastids or shared by plastids and other compartments of the cell. In short, plastids appear at the heart of all main plant functions

Willingness to reduce food choice in favour of sustainable alternatives: the role of government and consumer behaviour

Despite greater emphasis being placed on research into ethical consumer behaviour, there is still no clear view of the magnitude of willingness to reduce food choices in favour of sustainable alternatives (WTRFCIFOSA), while the role of government is also under the microscope, more specifically how willing it is to take the initiative in keeping only organic food on the shelves. This study advances a new concept by theorising “willingness to reduce food choices for sustainable alternatives”. The concept emerged from assessing consumer behaviour, ethical attributes, health attributes, and the roles played by both government and food producers in relation to naturalness. It is theorised that WTRFCIFOSA would lead to the consumption of natural and organic food. At present, consumers themselves have no willingness to switch to organic consumption. Moreover, ethical and health attributes, government, and food producers have no significant impact on convincing consumers to opt for organic/natural food. It is therefore suggested that governments should introduce the concept of mandatory consumption of sustainable alternatives by reducing the range of unnatural and less ethical food choices for consumers, because naturalness is a significant moderator in the process