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      Evidence of Coexistence of C 3 and C 4 Photosynthetic Pathways in a Green-Tide-Forming Alga, Ulva prolifera

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          Abstract

          Ulva prolifera, a typical green-tide-forming alga, can accumulate a large biomass in a relatively short time period, suggesting that photosynthesis in this organism, particularly its carbon fixation pathway, must be very efficient. Green algae are known to generally perform C 3 photosynthesis, but recent metabolic labeling and genome sequencing data suggest that they may also perform C 4 photosynthesis, so C 4 photosynthesis might be more wide-spread than previously anticipated. Both C 3 and C 4 photosynthesis genes were found in U. prolifera by transcriptome sequencing. We also discovered the key enzymes of C 4 metabolism based on functional analysis, such as pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase (PPDK), phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC), and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PCK). To investigate whether the alga operates a C 4-like pathway, the expression of rbcL and PPDK and their enzyme activities were measured under various forms and intensities of stress (differing levels of salinity, light intensity, and temperature). The expression of rbcL and PPDK and their enzyme activities were higher under adverse circumstances. However, under conditions of desiccation, the expression of rbcL and ribulose-1, 5-biphosphate carboxylase (RuBPCase) activity was lower, whereas that of PPDK was higher. These results suggest that elevated PPDK activity may alter carbon metabolism and lead to a partial operation of C 4-type carbon metabolism in U. prolifera, probably contributing to its wide distribution and massive, repeated blooms in the Yellow Sea.

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          Most cited references65

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          Multiple sequence alignment with the Clustal series of programs.

          R Chenna (2003)
          The Clustal series of programs are widely used in molecular biology for the multiple alignment of both nucleic acid and protein sequences and for preparing phylogenetic trees. The popularity of the programs depends on a number of factors, including not only the accuracy of the results, but also the robustness, portability and user-friendliness of the programs. New features include NEXUS and FASTA format output, printing range numbers and faster tree calculation. Although, Clustal was originally developed to run on a local computer, numerous Web servers have been set up, notably at the EBI (European Bioinformatics Institute) (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/clustalw/).
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            Carbon-negative biofuels from low-input high-diversity grassland biomass.

            Biofuels derived from low-input high-diversity (LIHD) mixtures of native grassland perennials can provide more usable energy, greater greenhouse gas reductions, and less agrichemical pollution per hectare than can corn grain ethanol or soybean biodiesel. High-diversity grasslands had increasingly higher bioenergy yields that were 238% greater than monoculture yields after a decade. LIHD biofuels are carbon negative because net ecosystem carbon dioxide sequestration (4.4 megagram hectare(-1) year(-1) of carbon dioxide in soil and roots) exceeds fossil carbon dioxide release during biofuel production (0.32 megagram hectare(-1) year(-1)). Moreover, LIHD biofuels can be produced on agriculturally degraded lands and thus need to neither displace food production nor cause loss of biodiversity via habitat destruction.
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              The origins of C4 grasslands: integrating evolutionary and ecosystem science.

              The evolution of grasses using C4 photosynthesis and their sudden rise to ecological dominance 3 to 8 million years ago is among the most dramatic examples of biome assembly in the geological record. A growing body of work suggests that the patterns and drivers of C4 grassland expansion were considerably more complex than originally assumed. Previous research has benefited substantially from dialog between geologists and ecologists, but current research must now integrate fully with phylogenetics. A synthesis of grass evolutionary biology with grassland ecosystem science will further our knowledge of the evolution of traits that promote dominance in grassland systems and will provide a new context in which to evaluate the relative importance of C4 photosynthesis in transforming ecosystems across large regions of Earth.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Role: Editor
                Journal
                PLoS One
                PLoS ONE
                plos
                plosone
                PLoS ONE
                Public Library of Science (San Francisco, USA )
                1932-6203
                2012
                16 May 2012
                : 7
                : 5
                : e37438
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Key Laboratory of Marine Bioactive substance, The First Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Qingdao, China
                [2 ]Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Qingdao, China
                [3 ]Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, China
                Laurentian University, Canada
                Author notes

                Conceived and designed the experiments: JX NY XZ. Performed the experiments: JX XF SM SC. Analyzed the data: JX DX ZZ JM. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: XF XZ NY. Wrote the paper: JX.

                Article
                PONE-D-12-04719
                10.1371/journal.pone.0037438
                3353924
                22616009
                098d0679-c4a2-4f28-92e5-8a65a8003f3e
                Xu et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
                History
                : 14 February 2012
                : 22 April 2012
                Page count
                Pages: 10
                Categories
                Research Article
                Biology
                Biochemistry
                Enzymes
                Enzyme Metabolism
                Nucleic Acids
                DNA
                Genetics
                Gene Expression
                Marine Biology
                Phycology
                Plant Science
                Plants
                Algae
                Plant Physiology

                Uncategorized
                Uncategorized

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