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Photosynthetic characteristics and tolerance to photo-oxidation of transgenic rice expressing C4 photosynthesis enzymes

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Abstract

The photosynthetic characteristics of four transgenic rice lines over-expressing rice NADP-malic enzyme (ME), and maize phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PC), pyruvate,orthophosphate dikinase (PK), and PC+PK (CK) were investigated using outdoor-grown plants. Relative to untransformed wild-type (WT) rice, PC transgenic rice exhibited high PC activity (25-fold increase) and enhanced activity of carbonic anhydrase (more than two-fold increase), while the activity of ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) and its kinetic property were not significantly altered. The PC transgenic plants also showed a higher light intensity for saturation of photosynthesis, higher photosynthetic CO2 uptake rate and carboxylation efficiency, and slightly reduced CO2 compensation point. In addition, chlorophyll a fluorescence analysis indicates that PC transgenic plants are more tolerant to photo-oxidative stress, due to a higher capacity to quench excess light energy via photochemical and non-photochemical means. Furthermore, PC and CK transgenic rice produced 22–24% more grains than WT plants. Taken together, these results suggest that expression of maize C4 photosynthesis enzymes in rice, a C3 plant, can improve its photosynthetic capacity with enhanced tolerance to photo-oxidation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Institute of Agrobiological Genetics and Physiology, Nangjing, 210014, China

    Demao Jiao, Xueqing Huang, Xia Li & Wei Chi

  2. The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Botany, Beijing, 100093, China

    Tingyun Kuang & Qide Zhang

  3. School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164-4236, USA

    Maurice S. B. Ku & Dongha Cho

Authors
  1. Demao Jiao
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  2. Xueqing Huang
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  3. Xia Li
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  4. Wei Chi
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  5. Tingyun Kuang
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  6. Qide Zhang
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  7. Maurice S. B. Ku
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  8. Dongha Cho
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Correspondence to Demao Jiao.

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Jiao, D., Huang, X., Li, X. et al. Photosynthetic characteristics and tolerance to photo-oxidation of transgenic rice expressing C4 photosynthesis enzymes. Photosynthesis Research 72, 85–93 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016062117373

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016062117373

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