Robert Hausler

We report the advances in the principal structural and experimental factors that might influence the carbon dioxide (CO2) adsorption on natural and synthetic zeolites. The CO2 adsorption is principally govern by the inclusion of exchangeable cations (countercations) within the cavities of zeolites, which induce basicity and an electric field, two key parameters for CO2 adsorption. More specifically, these two parameters vary with diverse factors including the nature, distribution and number of exchangeable cations. The structure of framework also determines CO2 adsorption on zeolites by influencing the basicity and electric field in their cavities. In fact, the basicity and electric field usually vary inversely with the Si/Al ratio. Furthermore, the CO2 adsorption might be limited by the size of pores within zeolites and by the carbonates formation during the CO2 chemisorption. The polarity of molecules adsorbed on zeolites represents a very important factor that influences their interaction with the electric field. The adsorbates that have the most great quadrupole moment such as the CO2, might interact strongly with the electric field of zeolites and this favors their adsorption. The pressure, temperature and presence of water seem to be the most important experimental conditions that influence the adsorption of CO2. The CO2 adsorption increases with the gas phase pressure and decreases with the rise of temperature. The presence of water significantly decreases adsorption capacity of cationic zeolites by decreasing strength and heterogeneity of the electric field and by favoring the formation of bicarbonates. The optimization of the zeolites structural characteristics and the experimental conditions might enhance substantially their CO2 adsorption capacity and thereby might give rise to the excellent adsorbents that may be used to capturing the industrial emissions of CO2.

Starch is the major storage carbohydrate in higher plants and of considerable importance for the human diet and for numerous technical applications. In addition, starch can be accumulated transiently in chloroplasts as a temporary deposit of carbohydrates during ongoing photosynthesis. This transitory starch has to be mobilized during the subsequent dark period. Mutants defective in starch mobilization are characterized by high starch contents in leaves after prolonged periods of darkness and therefore are termed starch excess (sex) mutants. Here we describe the molecular characterization of the Arabidopsis sex1 mutant that has been proposed to be defective in the export of glucose resulting from hydrolytic starch breakdown. The mutated gene in sex1 was cloned using a map-based cloning approach. By complementation of the mutant, immunological analysis, and analysis of starch phosphorylation, we show that sex1 is defective in the Arabidopsis homolog of the R1 protein and not in the hexose transporter. We propose that the SEX1 protein (R1) functions as an overall regulator of starch mobilization by controlling the phosphate content of starch.

The Arabidopsis chlorophyll a/b binding protein (CAB) gene underexpressed 1 (cue1) mutant underexpresses light-regulated nuclear genes encoding chloroplast-localized proteins. cue1 also exhibits mesophyll-specific chloroplast and cellular defects, resulting in reticulate leaves. Both the gene underexpression and the leaf cell morphology phenotypes are dependent on light intensity. In this study, we determine that CUE1 encodes the plastid inner envelope phosphoenolpyruvate/phosphate translocator (PPT) and define amino acid residues that are critical for translocator function. The biosynthesis of aromatics is compromised in cue1, and the reticulate phenotype can be rescued by feeding aromatic amino acids. Determining that CUE1 encodes PPT indicates the in vivo role of the translocator in metabolic partitioning and reveals a mesophyll cell-specific requirement for the translocator in Arabidopsis leaves. The nuclear gene expression defects in cue1 suggest that a light intensity-dependent interorganellar signal is modulated through metabolites dependent on a plastid supply of phosphoenolpyruvate.

Abstract The photorespiratory pathway is described, together with the mutants which have been isolated for this metabolic pathway. Some of the key regulatory properties of the photorespiratory cycle are reviewed together with the regulatory interactions that might occur between photorespiration and other processes, such as the Benson-Calvin cycle and anaplerotic carbon flow into organic acids. These are discussed in relation to recent studies of the regulation and control of photorespiratory carbon and nitrogen metabolism in photorespiratory mutants, including possible mechanisms for the control of photosynthetic and photorespiratory carbon and nitrogen metabolism and of the activation state of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase in heterozygous barley mutants with reduced activities of glutamine synthetase or glutamate synthase.