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Age-dependent induction of pyruvate, orthophosphate dikinase in Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L.

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Abstract

A full-length transcript for pyruvate, orthophosphate dikinase (PPDK; EC 2.7.9.1), has been characterized from Mesembryanthemum crystallinum. Under salt stress or with increasing age, this plant shows a transition from C3 to Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM). The PPDK plays a central role in gluconeogenesis during the light phase of CAM. The transcript is 3165 bases in length with a single open reading frame of 2739 nucleotides specifying a protein of molecular mass 103098, including a transit peptide of mass 7902 for chloroplast import. The protein shares 44–77% sequence identity with PPDK from C4-plants and microorganisms. Known functional and regulatory amino acids are conserved. Southern-type hybridizations indicated one copy or very few closely related copies of the gene per haploid genome. We investigated the induction of PPDK at the mRNA and protein levels, using the well characterized induction of a CAM-form of phosphoenol pyruvate carboxylase (PEPCase) as internal standard. During wilting of excised leaves PEP-Case mRNA amounts increased strongly within 8 h. Under these conditions amounts of PPDK mRNA remained constant. Re-hydrating leaves from previously stressed plants led to a decrease in PEPCase and PPDK mRNA amounts. During salt stress, no correlation between PEPCase and PPDK was observed. Analysis of plants of different ages indicated that, even in well-watered plants, PPDK-specific protein and mRNA increased when the plants reached a certain age. In old plants, salt stress failed to further increase PPDK mRNA or protein levels. We conclude that PPDK and PEPCase, which are both required for CAM to be functional, are controlled by different regulatory mechanisms in the intact plant.

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Abbreviations

CAM:

Crassulacean acid metabolism

PEP:

phosphoenolpyruvate

PEPCase:

phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase

Ppc :

gene for PEPCase

PPDK:

pyruvate, orthophosphate dikinase

Ppd :

gene for PPDK

Rbcs :

gene for the small subunit of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase

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Author notes

  1. Beate Fißlthaler

    Present address: Zentrum der Physiologie, Klinikum der Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe Universität, Theodor-Stern Kai 7, D-60590, Frankfurt, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Pflanzenphysiologie und Mikrobiologie, Freie Universität, Königin-Luise Straße 12-16, D-14195, Berlin, Germany

    Beate Fißlthaler, Gabriele Meyer & Jürgen M. Schmitt

  2. Department of Biochemistry, University of Arizona, 85721, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Hans J. Bohnert

Authors
  1. Beate Fißlthaler
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  2. Gabriele Meyer
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  3. Hans J. Bohnert
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  4. Jürgen M. Schmitt
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Additional information

This work was supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft to J.M.S and G.M and by U.S. Department of Agriculture-National Research Institute to H.J.B. Expert technical assistance by Felicitas Wronski and Mechtild Piepenbrock is gratefully acknowledged. B.F was supported by Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes and Kommission für Forschung und Wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchs.

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Fißlthaler, B., Meyer, G., Bohnert, H.J. et al. Age-dependent induction of pyruvate, orthophosphate dikinase in Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L. . Planta 196, 492–500 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00203649

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