Photosynthetic Carbon Metabolism in Photoautotrophic Cell Suspension Cultures Grown at Low and High CO

• Published in: Plant physiology (Bethesda) 1989-12, Vol.91 (4), p.1512-1519
• Main Authors: Chrissl A. Roeske, Widholm, Jack M., Ogren, William L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbon dioxide; Cell culture techniques; Cell growth; Cell lines; Cellular metabolism; Chemical suspensions; Cultured cells; Plant cells; Plants; Soybeans
• ISSN: 0032-0889; 1532-2548

Photosynthetic carbon metabolism was characterized in four photoautotrophic cell suspension cultures. There was no apparent difference between two soybean (Glycine max) and one cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) cell line which required 5% CO2 for growth, and a unique cotton cell line that grows at ambient CO2 (660 microliters per liter). Photosynthetic characteristics in all four lines were more like C3 mesophyll leaf cells than the cell suspension cultures previously studied. The pattern of 14C-labeling reflected the high ratio of ribulosebisphosphate carboxylase to phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase activity and showed that CO2 fixation occurred primarily by the C3 pathway. Photorespiration occurred at 330 microliters per liter CO2, 21% O2 as indicated by the synthesis of high levels of 14C-labeled glycine and serine in a pulse-chase experiment and by oxygen inhibition of CO2 fixation. Short-term CO2 fixation in the presence and absence of carbonic anhydrase showed CO2, not HCO3 -, to be the main source of inorganic carbon taken up by the low CO2-requiring cotton cells. The cells did not have a CO2-concentrating mechanism as indicated by silicone oil centrifugation experiments. Carbonic anhydrase was absent in the low CO2-requiring cotton cells, present in the high CO2-requiring soybean cell lines, and absent in other high CO2 cell lines examined. Thus, the presence of carbonic anhydrase is not an essential requirement for photoautotrophy in cell suspension cultures which grow at either high or low CO2 concentrations.