CEFOBI   05405
CENTRO DE ESTUDIOS FOTOSINTETICOS Y BIOQUIMICOS
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
The functional organization and control of plant respiration
Autor/es:
PLAXTON WC; PODESTÁ, FLORENCIO ESTEBAN
Revista:
Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences
Referencias:
Lugar: CRC Press; Año: 2006 vol. 25 p. 159 - 198
ISSN:
0735-2689
Resumen:
The respiratory pathways of glycolysis, the tricarboxylic acid(TCA) cycle, and mitochondrial electron transport chain (miETC)are central features of carbon metabolism and bioenergetics in aerobicorganisms. Respiration is essential for growth, maintenance,and carbon balance of all plant cells. Although the majority ofrespiratory enzymes are common to all organisms, plant respirationhas evolved as a complex metabolic network endowed with awide variety of unique characteristics. Plants have the option ofemploying alternative enzymes that bypass several of the conventionalsteps in cytosolic glycolysis, the TCA cycle, and miETC. Theextent and conditions under which these bypasses operate is thesubject of intensive research. The highly flexible nature of respiratorymetabolism in plants has likely evolved in response to thecrucial biosynthetic role played by respiration beyond its role inATP generation; both functions must proceed if plants are to surviveunder varying and often stressful environmental and nutritionalconditions. Additional complexity arises due to the existenceof tissue- and/or developmental-specific isozymes of many plant respiratory enzymes, as well as the extensive interactions betweenphotosynthesis and respiration, and plastidic, cytosolic, and mitochondrial metabolism in general. Recent progress in biochemistry,physiology, cell biology, genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics,metabolomics, and in vivo flux analyses have resulted in excitingnew insights intomanyaspects of plant respiratory metabolism. Experimentson transgenic or mutant plants possessing significantlyelevated or reduced levels of respiratory enzymes are augmenting our understanding of the functions, organization, and control of plant respiration. Metabolic engineering of plant respiration is ofsignificant practical interest as it provides both an important approachto enhancing crop yields, as well as a potential mechanism for mitigating global climate change due to elevated atmosphericCO2 levels