Travels in a world of small science* |
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Authors: | Zelitch Israel |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Biochemistry and Genetics, The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, P.O. Box 1106, New Haven, CT 06504, USA |
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Abstract: | As a boy, I read Sinclair Lewis's Arrowsmithand dreamed of doing research of potential benefit to society. I describe the paths of my scientific career that followed.
Several distinguished scientists served as my mentors and I present their profiles. Much of my career was in a small department
at a small institution where independent researchers collaborated informally. I describe the unique method of carrying on
research there. My curiosity about glycolate metabolism led to unraveling the enzymatic mechanism of the glycolate oxidase
reaction and showing the importance of H2O2 as a byproduct. I discovered enzymes catalyzing the reduction of glyoxylate and hydroxypyruvate. I found α-hydroxysulfonates
were useful competitive inhibitors of glycolate oxidase. In a moment of revelation, I realized that glycolate metabolism was
an essential part of photorespiration, a process that lowers net photosynthesis in C3 plants. I added inhibitors of glycolate oxidase to leaves and showed: (1) glycolate was synthesized only in light as an early
product of photosynthetic CO2 assimilation, (2) the rate of glycolate oxidation consumed a sizable fraction of net photosynthesis in C3 but not in C4 plants, and (3) that glycolate metabolism increased greatly at higher temperatures. For a while I studied the control of
stomatal opening in leaves, and this led to the finding that potassium ions are a key solute in guard cells. I describe experiments
that show that when photorespiration rates are high, as occurs at higher temperatures, genetically increasing leaf catalase
activity reduces photorespiration and increases net photosythetic CO2 assimilation.
This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
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Keywords: | Robert H Burris carbon dioxide assimilation catalase glycolate glyoxylate James G Horsfall Severo Ochoa photorespiration |
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