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Review article - Peer-reviewed, 2008

Catalysis and regulation in Rubisco

Andersson, Inger

Abstract

Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) catalyses the incorporation of inorganic CO(2) into the organic molecules of life. Rubisco is extremely inefficient as a catalyst and its carboxylase activity is compromised by numerous side-reactions including oxygenation of its sugar phosphate substrate by atmospheric O(2). The reduction in the catalytic efficiency as a result of these processes has implications for crop yield, nitrogen and water usage, and for the global carbon cycle. Several aspects of Rubisco including its complex biosynthesis and multi-step catalytic reaction are subject to tight control involving light, cellular metabolites, and molecular chaperones. Numerous high-resolution crystal structures of different forms of Rubisco are now available, including structures of mutant enzymes. These provide a molecular framework for the understanding of these processes at the molecular level.

Keywords

carbon fixation; CO(2)/O(2) specificity; light-regulation; Rubisco; structure-function studies

Published in

Journal of Experimental Botany
2008, Volume: 59, number: 7, pages: 1555-1568
Publisher: OXFORD UNIV PRESS

      SLU Authors

    • Andersson, Inger

      • Department of Molecular Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

    UKÄ Subject classification

    Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
    Botany

    Publication identifier

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/ern091

    Permanent link to this page (URI)

    https://res.slu.se/id/publ/78036