Abstract

Chloroplasts are central nodes of the metabolic networks in photosynthetic cells. Metabolic pathways in chloroplasts are highly connected with pathways occurring in the surrounding cytosol and in other organelles. This requires massive flux of solutes across the chloroplast envelope membranes and hence a plethora of metabolite transport systems to facilitate this flux. Despite their importance for connecting metabolic pathways of cellular compartments, many if not most solute transporters required for intracellular metabolite transport are still unknown at the molecular level. We have used comparative proteomics and transcriptomics of various C3 and C4 plant species to identify novel metabolite transporter functions. Transcriptome co-response analyses were used to identify transporters involved in photorespiration. Results of these analyses will be presented.

Jamai A, Salomé PA, Schilling SH, Weber APM , McClung CR (2009) Arabidopsis Photorespiratory Serine Hydroxymethyltransferase (SHMT) Activity Requires The Mitochondrial Accumulation Of Ferredoxin-Dependent Glutamate Synthase (Fd-GOGAT). Plant Cell, in press

Linka N, Theodoulou FL, Haslam RP, Napier JA, Neuhaus HE, Weber APM (2008) Peroxisomal ATP import is essential for seedling development in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Cell 20: 3241-3257.

Bräutigam A, Hoffmann-Benning S, Weber APM (2008) Comparative proteomics of chloroplasts envelopes from C3 and C4 plants reveals specific adaptations of the plastid envelope to C4 photosynthesis and candidate proteins required for maintaining C4 metabolite fluxes. Plant Physiol 148: 568-579.

Weber APM and Fischer K (2007) Making the connections – the crucial role of metabolite transporters at the interface between chloroplast and cytosol. FEBS Lett 581: 2215-2222

Bouvier F, Linka N, Isner JC, Mutterer J, Weber APM and Camara B (2006) Arabidopsis SAMT1 Defines a Plastid Transporter Regulating Plastid Biogenesis and Plant Development. Plant Cell 18: 3088-3105.

http://www.biologie.uni-duesseldorf.de/Institute/Biochemie_der_Pflanzen/Institutsleitung