Photorespiration
Photorespiration or C2 Cycle or Glycolate Cycle or Photosynthetic Carbon Oxidation Cycle:
Photorespiration is the light dependent process of oxygenation of RUBP (Ribulose bi-phosphate) and release of carbon dioxide by photosynthetic organs of the plant. Otherwise, as we know, photosynthetic organs release oxygen and not CO2 under normal situation.
Occurrence of photorespiration in a plant can be demonstrated by:
(i) Decrease in the rate of net photosynthesis when oxygen concentration is increased from 2-3 to 21%.
(ii) Sudden increased evolution of CO2 when an illuminated green plant is transferred to dark.
Photorespiration is initiated under high O2 and low CO2 and intense light around the photosynthesizing plant. Photorespiration was discovered by Dicker and Tio (1959), while the term “Photorespiration” was coined by Krotkov (1963). Photorespiration should not be confused with photo- oxidation. While the former is a normal process in some green plants, the latter is an abnormal and injurious process occurring in extremely intense light resulting in destruction of cellular components, cells and tissues.
On the basis of photorespiration, plants can be divided into two groups:
(i) Plants with photorespiration (temperate plants) and plants without photorespiration (tropical plants).
Site of Photorespiration :
Photorespiration involves three cell organelles, viz., chloroplast, peroxisome and mitochondria for its completion. Peroxisome, the actual site of photorespiration, contains enzymes like glycolate oxydase, glutamate glyoxalate aminotransferase, peroxidase and catalase enzymes.
Mechanism of Photorespiration :
We know that the enzyme RUBISCO (Ribulose biphosphate carboxylase oxygenase) catalyzes the carboxylation reaction, where CO2 combines with RuBP for calvin cycle (dark reaction of photosynthesis) to initiate. But this enzyme RUBISCO, under intense light conditions, has the ability to catalyse the combination of O2 with RuPB, a process called oxygenation.
In other words the enzyme RUBISCO can catalyse both carboxylation as well as oxygenation reactions in green plants under different conditions of light and O2/CO2 ratio. Respiration that is initiated in chloroplasts under light conditions is called photorespiration. This occurs essentially because of the fact that the active site of the enzyme RUBISCO is the same for both carboxylation and oxygenation (Fig. 6.16).
The oxygenation of RuBP in the presence of O2 is the first reaction of photorespiration, which leads to the formation of one molecule of phosphoglycolate, a 2 carbon https://www.parentous.com/soma-no-prescription/ compound and one molecule of phosphoglyceric acid (PGA). While the PGA is used up in the Calvin cycle, the phosphoglycolate is dephosphorylated to form glycolate in the chloroplast.
From the chloroplast, the glycolate is diffused to peroxisome, where it is oxidised to glyoxylate. In the peroxisome, the glyoxylate is used to form the amino acid, glycine. Glycine enters mitochondria where two molecules of glycine (4 carbons) give rise to one molecule of serine (3 carbon) and one CO2 (one carbon).
The serine is taken up by the peroxisome, and through a series of reactions, is converted to glycerate. The glycerate leaves the peroxisome and enters the chloroplast, where it is phosphorylated to form PGA. The PGA molecule enters the calvin cycle to make carbohydrates, but one CO2 molecule released in mitochondria during photorespiration has to be re-fixed.
In other words, 75% of the carbon lost by oxygenation of RuBP is recovered, and 25% is lost as release of one molecule of CO2. Because of the features described above, photorespiration is also called photosynthetic carbon oxidation cycle.
Minimization of Photorespiration (C4 and CAM Plants):
Since photorespiration requires additional energy from the light reactions of photosynthesis, some plants have mechanisms to reduce uptake of molecular oxygen by Rubisco. They increase the concentration of CO2 in the leaves so that Rubisco is less likely to produce glycolate through reaction with O2.
C4 plants capture carbon dioxide in cells of their mesophyll (using an enzyme called PEP carboxylase), and they release it to the bundle sheath cells (site of carbon dioxide fixation by Rubisco) where oxygen concentration is low.
The enzyme PEP carboxylase is also found in other plants such as cacti and succulents who use a mechanism called Crassulacean acid metabolism or CAM in which PEP carboxylase put aside carbon at night and releases it to the photosynthesizing cells during the day.
This provides a mechanism for reducing high rates of water loss (transpiration) by stomata during the day. This ability to avoid photorespiration makes these plants more hardy than other plants in dry conditions where stomata are closed and oxygen concentration rises.
