Patterns of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase activity and cytosolic pH during light activation and dark deactivation in C3 and C 4 plants.

The rate and extent of light activation of PEPC may be used as another criterion to distinguish C3 and C4 plants. Light stimulated phosphoenolypyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) in leaf discs of C4 plants, the activity being three times greater than that in the dark but stimulation of PEPC was limited about 30% over the dark-control in C3 species. The light activation of PEPC in leaves of C3 plants was complete within 10 min, while maximum activation in C4 plants required illumination for more than 20 min, indicating that the relative pace of PEPC activation was slower in C4 plants than in C3 plants. Similarly, the dark-deactivation of the enzyme was also slower in leaves of C4 than in C3 species. The extent of PEPC stimulation in the alkaline pH range indicated that the dark-adapted form of the C4 enzyme is very sensitive to changes in pH. The pH of cytosol-enriched cell sap extracted from illuminated leaves of C4 plants was more alkaline than that of dark-adapted leaves. The extent of such light-dependent alkalization of cell sap was three times higher in C4 leaves than in C3 plants. The course of light-induced alkalization and dark-acidification of cytosol-enriched cell sap was markedly similar to the pattern of light activation and dark-deactivation of PEPC in Alternanthera pungens, a C4 plant. Our report provides preliminary evidence that the photoactivation of PEPC in C4 plants may be mediated at least partially by the modulation of cytosolic pH.