Carbon metabolic pathways and relationships with plant stress

MINEN, ROMINA I.; FIGUEROA, CARLOS M.; IGLESIAS, ALBERTO A.; PODESTÁ, FLORENCIO E.

Handbook of plant and crop stress, Fourth edition

CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group

Lugar: Boca Raton; Año: 2019; p. 388 - 403

Carbonphotoassimilation and partitioning are key determinants of plant productivityunder physiological and stressful conditions. In depth evaluation of the plant?scapacity to adapt to different environments implies, as a prerequisite,understanding the function and regulation of key enzymes involved in different metabolicroutes. We detail how inorganic CO2 is photosyntheticallyassimilated by plants, paying attention to partitioning of carbohydrates at theintra- and inter-cellular levels. We highlight the biosynthesis of starch,sucrose, sugar-alcohols and raffinose, as key compounds for the plants capacityto cope with stress conditions. The utility of these sugars to preservebiological molecules and functions is analyzed in the framework of plant cellsexposed to many stresses (osmotic, low temperature, drought, high salinity andredox injuries). Many factors affecting the expression pattern of genes and theactivity (via allosteric or post-translational regulation) of enzymes involvedin carbohydrates metabolism are considered. A general scenario is presented tosummarize the advances and deficiencies in the knowledge of carbon metabolismunder physiological and stress conditions. This should constitute a platformfor the design of future studies and developing strategies to rationally handleplant metabolism in adaptation to diverse environments.