The Inorganic Carbon Transporter of the Chloroplast Envelope

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The unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii possesses a CO2-concentrating system that allows this organism to grow photoautotrophically at carbon dioxide concentrations lower than most higher plants could survive. Recent work has indicated that the chloroplast envelope may play an important role in carbon dioxide accumulation. Two goals of this research are to characterize this transport by C. reinhardtii chloroplasts and to identify the transport proteins involved. Using intact chloroplasts, the role of pH gradients, monovalent ions, and ATP in the accumulation of inorganic carbon will be examined. The long-term goal of this project is to understand how the delivery of carbon dioxide to the chloroplast is enhanced by membrane transport processes in higher plants and algae.