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Lookup NU author(s): Ali Leverett, Emerita Professor Anne Borland
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© The Author(s) 2023.Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) is a metabolic adaptation that has evolved convergently in 38 plant families to aid survival in water-limited niches. Whilst primarily considered a photosynthetic adaptation, CAM also has substantial consequences for nocturnal respiratory metabolism. Here, we outline the history, current state and future of nocturnal respiration research in CAM plants, with a particular focus on the energetics of nocturnal respiratory oxygen consumption. Throughout the 20th century, research interest in nocturnal respiration occurred alongside initial discoveries of CAM, although the energetic and mechanistic implications of nocturnal oxygen consumption and links to the operation of the CAM cycle were not fully understood. Recent flux balance analysis (FBA) models have provided new insights into the role that mitochondria play in the CAM cycle. Several FBA models have predicted that CAM requires elevated nocturnal respiratory rates, compared to C3 species, to power vacuolar malic acid accumulation. We provide physiological data, from the genus Clusia, to corroborate these modelling predictions, thereby reinforcing the importance of elevated nocturnal respiratory rates for CAM. Finally, we outline five unanswered questions pertaining to nocturnal respiration which must be addressed if we are to fully understand and utilize CAM plants in a hotter, drier world.
Author(s): Leverett A, Borland AM
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Annals of Botany
Year: 2023
Volume: 132
Issue: 4
Pages: 855-867
Print publication date: 20/09/2023
Online publication date: 28/08/2023
Acceptance date: 25/08/2023
Date deposited: 05/02/2024
ISSN (print): 0305-7364
ISSN (electronic): 1095-8290
Publisher: Oxford University Press
URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcad119
DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcad119
PubMed id: 37638861
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