Evolution along the crassulacean acid metabolism continuum

Katia Silvera; Kurt M. Neubig; W. Mark Whitten; Norris H. Williams; Klaus Winter; John C. Cushman

doi:10.1071/FP10084

EVOLUTIONARY REVIEW

Evolution along the crassulacean acid metabolism continuum

Katia Silvera ^A , Kurt M. Neubig ^B , W. Mark Whitten ^B , Norris H. Williams ^B , Klaus Winter ^C and John C. Cushman ^A ^D

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, MS200, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557-0200, USA.

^B Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-7800, USA.

^C Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, PO Box 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancón, Republic of Panama.

^D Corresponding author. Email: jcushman@unr.edu

This paper is part of an ongoing series: ‘The Evolution of Plant Functions’.

Functional Plant Biology 37(11) 995-1010 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP10084
Submitted: 15 April 2010 Accepted: 2 August 2010 Published: 22 October 2010

Abstract

Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) is a specialised mode of photosynthesis that improves atmospheric CO₂ assimilation in water-limited terrestrial and epiphytic habitats and in CO₂-limited aquatic environments. In contrast with C₃ and C₄ plants, CAM plants take up CO₂ from the atmosphere partially or predominantly at night. CAM is taxonomically widespread among vascular plants and is present in many succulent species that occupy semiarid regions, as well as in tropical epiphytes and in some aquatic macrophytes. This water-conserving photosynthetic pathway has evolved multiple times and is found in close to 6% of vascular plant species from at least 35 families. Although many aspects of CAM molecular biology, biochemistry and ecophysiology are well understood, relatively little is known about the evolutionary origins of CAM. This review focuses on five main topics: (1) the permutations and plasticity of CAM, (2) the requirements for CAM evolution, (3) the drivers of CAM evolution, (4) the prevalence and taxonomic distribution of CAM among vascular plants with emphasis on the Orchidaceae and (5) the molecular underpinnings of CAM evolution including circadian clock regulation of gene expression.

Additional keywords: phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase, photosynthesis, δ¹³C.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by funding from the USA Environmental Protection Agency under the Greater Research Opportunities Graduate Program (Agreement no. MA 91685201 to KS), National Science Foundation NSF IOB-0543659 (to JCC), and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (to KW). We are indebted to Dr J Andrew C Smith (Oxford University) for his contributions to Table 2. We would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and Mary Ann Cushman for her critical reading of the manuscript. EPA has not formally reviewed this publication. The views expressed in this publication are solely those of the authors and the EPA does not endorse any products or commercial services mentioned in this publication. This publication was also made possible by NIH Grant Number P20 RR-016464 from the INBRE Program of the National Center for Research Resources through its support of the Nevada Genomics, Proteomics and Bioinformatics Centers.

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