Analysis of metabolic alterations in Arabidopsis following changes in the carbon dioxide and oxygen partial pressures

As sessile organisms, plants are subject to a multitude of environmental variations including several which directly affect their interaction with the atmosphere. Given the indiscriminant nature of Rubisco, the relative rates of photosynthesis and photorespiration are known to be responsive to changes in gas composition. However, comprehensive profiling methods have not yet been applied in order to characterize the wider consequences of these changes on primary metabolism in general. Moreover, although transcriptional profiling has revealed that a subset of photorespiratory enzymes are co-expressed, whether transcriptional responses play a role in short-term responses to atmospheric compositional changes remains unknown. To address these questions, plants Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) ecotype Columbia (Col-O) grown under normal air conditions were transferred to different CO2 and O2 concentrations and characterized at the physiological, molecular, and metabolic levels following this transition. The results reveal alterations in the components, which are directly involved in, or supporting, photorespiration, including transcripts and metabolite levels. The results further highlight that the majority of the regulation of these pathways is not mediated at the level of transcription and that the photorespiratory pathway is essential also in conditions in which flux through the pathway is minimized, yet suggest that flux through this pathway is not mediated at the level of transcription.