Beck, E: Glycolate Synthesis. II. F. Glycolic Acid and Photorespiration in FA Loewus, W Tanner: Encyclopedia of plant physiology New series, 6 (1979), doi:10.1007/978-3-642-67242-2_26 | |
Abstract: Photosynthetic glycolate formation is a complex and irreversible process which at least in intact systems cannot be uncoupled from photosynthetic carbon metabolism. Although some crucial breakthroughs were achieved recently, the biochemistry and regulation of this process has not yet been completely elucidated. Usually, glycolate synthesis is confined to the chloroplast, but its metabolism takes place outside this organelle. Consequently glycolate formation represents a substantial carbon sink with respect to the photosynthetic carbon cycle. Glycolate formation, being the beginning of the “wasteful” process of photorespiration, was often considered to cause the Warburg effect, i.e., the inhibition of photosynthesis by oxygen (Warburg, 1920; Coombs and Whittingham, 1966; for ref. see Turner and Brittain, 1962 and Björkman, 1966). However, although both phenomena are certainly correlated, it is now clear that the Warburg effect comprises more metabolic features than the synthesis and metabolism of glycolate (Robinson and Gibbs, 1974; Robinson et al., 1977; Wah Kow et al., 1977). |