FOR 1186:  Photorespiration: Origins and Metabolic Integration in Interacting Compartments

• Subject Area: Biology
• Term: from 2009 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 91564084

Photorespiration represents one of the major highways of plant primary metabolism. By mass flow, excelled only by photosynthesis, it actually constitutes the second-most important process in the land-based biosphere. Related CO2 losses can be very high and are further elevated by warmer temperatures and drought, hence reducing the yields of important crops. In light of the importance of this process for plant metabolism, adaptation and productivity, and significantly boosted by new tools, the Research Unit addresses major unresolved questions of the origins, metabolic integration and cellular biology of photorespiratory metabolism.
To this end, the multivalent expertise of ten research groups and associated partners as well as advanced technology platforms will be combined to pursue two new approaches. A systems biology approach will provide a comprehensive understanding of the dynamic interactions that take place between the components of photorespiration in order to appreciate the system as a whole and allow quantitative predictions. Complementary to this, an integrated synthetic biology approach promotes plant breeding for sustainable energy production.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• International Connection: Australia, Canada, Norway

Projects

• Biochemistry and physiological importance of alternative photorespiratory pathways in higher plants (Applicant Peterhänsel, Christoph )
• Central Project (Applicant Bauwe, Hermann )
• Cyanobacterial photorespiration as possible evolutionary origin for the plant C2 cycle (Applicant Hagemann, Martin )
• Dynamic analysis of metabolism under circumstances of altered photorespiratory flux (Applicant Fernie, Ph.D., Alisdair )
• Effects of photorespiration on leaf growth dynamics and plant biomass accumulation (Applicant Walter, Achim )
• Inner cellular CO2 transfer mechanism during photorespiration (Applicant Braun, Hans-Peter )
• Photorespiration-centred metabolic modelling: reconstruction and structural analysis of the network of primary metabolism in cyanobacteria, comparison to eukaryotic energy and central carbon metabolism, metabolic engineering approach for optimisation of C-fixation (Applicant Wolkenhauer, Olaf )
• Photorespiration: Origins and Metabolic Integration in Interacting Compartments (Applicant Bauwe, Hermann )
• Photorespiratory metabolism in the cyanobacterial model Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803: A systems biology approach (Applicant Kopka, Joachim )
• Rate-limiting steps in photorespiratory metabolism and their importance for metabolic regulation (Applicant Bauwe, Hermann )
• The evolution and role of photorespiration in C4 photosynthesis (Applicant Westhoff, Peter )
• The impact of short-cutting photorespiration on carbon and nitrogen metabolism (Applicant Maurino, Veronica )
• Transport of photorespiratory intermediates between cellular compartments (Applicant Weber, Andreas P.M. )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Hermann Bauwe
• Participating Persons: Professorin Dr. Susanne von Caemmerer; Professor Dr. Per Gardeström; Professor Dr. Zoran Nikoloski, Ph.D.; Professorin Dr. Sanja Roje; Professor Dr. Rowan F. Sage