Photosynthetic Characteristics of Antisense Transgenic Rice Expressing Reduced Levels of Rubisco Activase

The activation of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco), which catalyses CO2 fixation in photosynthesis, requires the assistance of the regulatory protein Rubisco activase. Rubisco activase promotes carbamylation of Rubisco by releasing inhibitory sugar phosphates bound to the catalytic site of Rubisco in the light. To clarify the effects of Rubisco activase contents on the photosynthesis of rice, we investigated the steady-state photosynthesis and light-induction of photosynthesis in transgenic rice plants, in which leaf Rubisco activase levels were reduced. The reduction in Rubisco activase did not affect steady-state photosynthesis under high light intensity until the Rubisco activase was about 15% of that in control plants. However, light-induction of photosynthesis, namely, increase in photosynthetic rate following a transition from a low to high light intensity, was considerably low in transgenic rice plants with 20−25% Rubisco activase, which was sufficient to support the steady-state photosynthesis. In addition, the Rubisco activase content was highly correlated with the initial rate of Rubisco activation after the increase in light intensity. These results suggest that Rubisco activase in rice leaves largely limits the light-induction of photosynthesis, but not steady-state photosynthesis.