Glycolate oxidation inside the chloroplast: A novel method for the suppression of photorespiration in plants

• Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Christoph Peterhänsel
• Fachliche Zuordnung: Biochemie und Biophysik der Pflanzen
• Förderung: Förderung von 2003 bis 2007
• Projektkennung: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 5399568

Plants loose a significant part of the already fixed CO2 in the process of photorespiration. This effect is exacerbated further under hot and arid climates. Also, growth and yield of crops is clearly enhanced by fertilisation with CO2 under otherwise optimal conditions. We propose a novel approach for the suppression of photorespiration. A pathway derived from E. coli will be transferred into the chloroplast capable of converting glycolate into glycerate under release of CO2. Thus, the products of photorespiration will directly lead to enhanced CO2 concentrations in the chloroplast and therefore suppress photorespiration. Important novelties of this approach are the identification and application of glycolate-oxidising enzymes with organic co-factors avoiding the production of oxygen radicals and the transfer of the complete coding sequences as one cistron into the chloroplast genome.

• DFG-Verfahren: Sachbeihilfen