chlorophyll-a and fructose-6-phosphate

This work presents findings, which indicate important role of fructose, fructose 6-phosphate (F6P), and fructose 1,6-bisphosphate (FBP) in preservation of homeostasis in plants under low temperature. Cold combined with light is known to incite increased generation of superoxide in chloroplasts leading to photoinhibition, but also an increased level of soluble sugars. In the present study, oxidative stress in pea leaves provoked by cold/light regime was asserted by the observed decrease of the level of oxidized form of PSI pigment P700 (P700+). Alongside, the increased antioxidative status and the accumulation of fructose were observed. The antioxidative properties of fructose and its phosphorylated forms were evaluated to appraise their potential protective role in plants exposed to chilling stress. Fructose, and particularly F6P and FBP exhibited high capacities for scavenging superoxide and showed to be involved in antioxidative protection in pea leaves. These results combined with previously established links implicate that the increase in level of fructose sugars through various pathways intercalated into physiological mechanisms of homeostasis represents important non-enzymatic antioxidative defense in plants under cold-related stress.

Topics: Adaptation, Physiological; Antioxidants; Chlorophyll; Cold Temperature; Fructose; Fructosediphosphates; Fructosephosphates; Homeostasis; Oxidative Stress; Pisum sativum; Plant Physiological Phenomena; Plants; Superoxides

In cyanobacteria many compounds, including chlorophylls, carotenoids, and hopanoids, are synthesized from the isoprenoid precursors isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) and dimethylallyl diphosphate. Isoprenoid biosynthesis in extracts of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis strain PCC 6803 grown under photosynthetic conditions, stimulated by pentose phosphate cycle substrates, does not appear to require methylerythritol phosphate pathway intermediates. The sll1556 gene, distantly related to type 2 IPP isomerase genes, was disrupted by insertion of a Kanr cassette. The mutant was fully viable under photosynthetic conditions although impaired in the utilization of pentose phosphate cycle substrates. Compared to the parental strain the Deltasll1556 mutant (i) is deficient in isoprenoid biosynthesis in vitro with substrates including glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate, fructose-6-phosphate, and glucose-6-phosphate; (ii) has smaller cells (diameter ca. 13% less); (iii) has fewer thylakoids (ca. 30% less); and (iv) has a more extensive fibrous outer wall layer. Isoprenoid biosynthesis is restored with pentose phosphate cycle substrates plus the recombinant Sll1556 protein in the Deltasll1556 supernatant fraction. IPP isomerase activity could not be demonstrated for the purified Sll1556 protein under our in vitro conditions. The reduction of thylakoid area and the effect on outer wall layer components are consistent with an impairment of isoprenoid biosynthesis in the mutant, possibly via hopanoid biosynthesis. Our findings are consistent with an alternate metabolic shunt for biosynthesis of isoprenoids.

Topics: Bacterial Proteins; Carotenoids; Cell Wall; Chlorophyll; Cyanobacteria; Fructosephosphates; Gene Silencing; Genes, Bacterial; Glucose-6-Phosphate; Glyceraldehyde 3-Phosphate; Hemiterpenes; Mutagenesis, Insertional; Organophosphorus Compounds; Pentose Phosphate Pathway; Terpenes; Thylakoids

Fructose 2,6-bisphosphate (F26BP) is a competitive inhibitor of the cytosolic fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase (cytFBPase, EC 3.1.3.11). In spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) leaves it is a significant component of the complex regulatory network that co-ordinates rates of photosynthesis, sucrose synthesis and starch synthesis. However the role of F26BP has only been studied in plants that predominantly store starch in their leaves and its role in other species is not clear. This paper examines the significance of F26BP in the regulation of photosynthetic carbon metabolism in the intact leaves of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), a plant that accumulates predominantly sucrose. The approach taken was to vary rates of photosynthesis and then correlate measurements of F26BP and a range of other metabolites with rates of carbohydrate synthesis obtained from (14)CO(2)-feeding experiments performed under physiological conditions. It was found that: (i) Amounts of 3-phosphoglycerate and fructose-6-phosphate are correlated with the amount of F26BP. (ii) F26BP is involved in inhibiting cytFBPase at low light and low CO(2), but other factors, for example triose-phosphate, must also be involved. (iii) Amounts of both F26BP and substrate are involved in co-ordinating rates of photosynthesis and sucrose synthesis, but the relative importance of these depends on the conditions. (iv) Amounts of F26BP do not correlate with the partitioning of fixed carbon between sucrose and starch. Together these data suggest that the amount of F26BP in wheat is regulated by mechanisms similar to those in spinach, and that the metabolite is one of the factors involved in co-ordinating sucrose synthesis and photosynthesis. However F26BP does not appear to be involved in regulating the partitioning of fixed carbon between sucrose and starch in wheat under the experimental conditions examined.

Topics: Carbon Dioxide; Carbon Radioisotopes; Chlorophyll; Fructosediphosphates; Fructosephosphates; Glucose-6-Phosphate; Glycerophospholipids; Light; Photosynthesis; Plant Leaves; Starch; Sucrose; Triticum