Participation of two carbonic anhydrases of the alpha family in photosynthetic reactions in Arabidopsis thaliana

Abstract

The expression of genes of two carbonic anhydrases (CA) belonging to the a-family, α-CA2 and α-CA4 (according to the nomenclature in N. Fabre et al. (2007) Plant Cell Environ., 30, 617-629), was studied in arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana, var. Columbia) leaves. The expression of the At2g28210 gene coding α-CA2 decreased under increase in plant illumination, while the expression of the At4g20990 gene coding α-CA4 increased. Under conditions close to optimal for photosynthesis, in plants with gene At2g28210 knockout, the effective quantum yield of photosystem 2 and the light-induced accumulation of hydrogen peroxide in leaves were lower than in wild type plants, while the coefficient of non-photochemical quenching of leaf chlorophyll a fluorescence and the rate of CO₂ assimilation in leaves were higher. In plants with At4g20990 gene knockout, the same characteristics changed in opposite ways relative to wild type. Possible mechanisms of the participation of αa-CA2 and α-CA4 in photosynthetic reactions are discussed, taking into account that protons can be either consumed or released in the reactions they catalyze.