REU: Photosynthetic Pathways in Seasonal Pool Aquatic Macrophytes

光合作用是植物将大气中的二氧化碳转化为碳水化合物的过程。所有的动物，包括人类，都直接或间接地依赖于这一过程来摄取卡路里。虽然粮食生产需求继续上升，但我们的粮食生产/单位土地面积已经持平。未来需要对植物光合作用有更多的理解和能力。在过去的15年里，由于在一些植物中发现了不同的代谢途径，我们对光合作用的理解发生了巨大的变化。现在已知，至少有两类相当特殊的植物(C4和CAM)在将二氧化碳同化为葡萄糖之前，将二氧化碳直接固定为有机酸(苹果酸)。拟议的研究将集中于最近在某些水生植物中发现的这些不寻常的光合作用途径。看来，对于这些水生植物来说，将二氧化碳固定在苹果酸中可能是提高净生产力的一种机制。当人们认识到我们最高产的作物和最耐干旱的作物具有这种光合作用途径时，这种过程的影响是显而易见的。然而，这些概括适用于陆地植物，对水生植物光合作用知之甚少。

Photosynthesis is the process by which plants convert atmospheric carbon dioxide into carbohydrates. All animals including man, directly or indirectly, depend upon this process for their daily caloric intake. Although food production demands are continuing to rise, our food production/unit of land area has leveled off. The future demands an increased understanding of and ability to manipulate plant photosynthesis. Our understanding of photosynthesis has changed dramatically in the last 15 years due to the discovery of different metabolic pathways in some plants. It is now known that there are at least two rather specialized groups of plants (C4 and CAM) which, prior to assimilating CO2 into glucose, fix C02 directly into an organic acid (malic acid). The proposed research will focus on recent discoveries of these unusual photosynthetic pathways incertain aquatic plants. It appears that for these aquatic plants, CO2 fixation into malic acid may be a mechanism for increasing net productivity. The implications of such a processare obvious when one recognizes that our most productive crops and our most drought.resistant crops possess this photosynthetic pathway. These generalizations however apply to terrestrial plants, very little is known about aquatic plant photosynthesis.