Effects of altered phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase activities on transgenic C3 plant Solanum tuberosum

Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) genes from Corynebacterium glutamicum (cppc), Escherichia coli (eppc) or Flaveria trinervia (fppc) were transferred to Solanum tuberosum. Plant regenerants producing foreign PEPC were identified by Western blot analysis. Maximum PEPC activities measured in eppc and fppc plants grown in the greenhouse were doubled compared to control plants. For cppc a transgenic plant line could be selected which exhibited a fourfold increase in PEPC activity. In the presence of acetyl-CoA, a known activator of the procaryotic PEPC, a sixfold higher activity level was observed. In cppc plants grown in axenic culture PEPC activities were even higher. There was a 6-fold or 12-fold increase in the PEPC activities compared to the controls measured in the absence or presence of acetyl-CoA, respectively. Comparable results were obtained by transient expression in Nicotiana tabacum protoplasts. PEPC of C. glutamicum (PEPC C.g.) in S. tuberosum leaf extracts displays its characteristic K _m(PEP) value. Plant growth was examined with plants showing high expression of PEPC and, moreover, with a plant cell line expressing and antisense S. tuberosum (anti-sppc) gene. In axenic culture the growth rate of a cppc plant cell line was appreciably diminished, whereas growth rates of an anti-sppc line were similar or slightly higher than in controls. Malate levels were increased in cppc plants and decreased in antisense plants. There were no significant differences in photosynthetic electron transport or steady state CO₂ assimilation between control plants and transformants overexpressing PEPC C.g. or anti-sppc plants. However, a prolonged dark treatment resulted in a delayed induction of photosynthetic electron transport in plants with less PEPC. Rates of CO₂ release in the dark determined after a 45 min illumination period at a high proton flux density were considerably enhanced in cppc plants and slightly diminished in anti-sppc plants. When CO₂ assimilation rates were corrected for estimated rates of mitochondrial respiration in the light, the electron requirement for CO₂ assimilation determined in low CO₂ was slightly lower in transformants with higher PEPC, whereas transformants with decreased PEPC exhibited an appreciably elevated electron requirement. The CO₂ compensation point remained unchanged in plants (cppc) with high PEPC activity, but might be increased in an antisense plant cell line. Stomatal opening was delayed in antisense plants, but was accelerated in plants overexpressing PEPC C.g. compared to the controls.Abbreviations CO₂ compensation point - CO₂ quantum efficiency of CO₂ assimilation - _PSII quantum efficiency of photosystem II electron transport - A CO₂ assimilation rate - C_i intercellular CO₂ concentration; e, electron - PFD photon flux density - Q_A primary quinone electron acceptor of photosystem II - Q_N non-photochemical chlorophyll a fluorescence quenching - q_P photochemical chlorophyll a fluorescence quenching