Assimilates carbon

A suitable fermentation medium contains water and a source of assimilable carbon and nitrogen and essential mineral salts. A typical medium suitable for production of chlorodemethyltetracycline is as follows ... 

The subsequent fate of the assimilated carbon depends on which biomass constituent the atom enters. Leaves, twigs, and the like enter litterfall, and decompose and recycle the carbon to the atmosphere within a few years, whereas carbon in stemwood has a turnover time counted in decades. In a steady-state ecosystem the net primary production is balanced by the total heterotrophic respiration plus other outputs. Non-respiratory outputs to be considered are fires and transport of organic material to the oceans. Fires mobilize about 5 Pg C/yr (Baes et ai, 1976 Crutzen and Andreae, 1990), most of which is converted to CO2. Since bacterial het-erotrophs are unable to oxidize elemental carbon, the production rate of pyroligneous graphite, a product of incomplete combustion (like forest fires), is an interesting quantity to assess. The inability of the biota to degrade elemental carbon puts carbon into a reservoir that is effectively isolated from the atmosphere and oceans. Seiler and Crutzen (1980) estimate the production rate of graphite to be 1 Pg C/yr. 

Figure 10.4. Effect on apatite-collagen isotopic fractionation due to inhibition of amino acid production and preferred use of exogenous amino acids. Carnivore and herbivore, both based on C3 plants, have similar bulk isotopic composition of total edible tissues (T), leading to similar 5 C for apatite carbonate (AP). Collagen (CO) of carnivore is more enriched in Cthan that of herbivore, because of preferential utilization of amino acids derived from protein (P) of herbivore flesh in construction of carnivore s proteins. C ss = assimilated carbon.

Recently, pulse labeling has frequently been applied to determine the fate of carbon in crops such as barley and wheat and the losses from roots and subsequent microbial transformations. In general, the results indicate that 15-25% of the net " C assimilation is transferred to the roots and that there are seasonal differences in the distribution of assimilated carbon. Meharg and Killham (25) measured the C distribution in perennial ryegrass (L perenne). At 8 days after the pulse with... 

The assimilated carbon is further mineralized, as the cells which metabolized the original substrate are themselves decomposed or consumed by protozoa or other predators. The values from the measurements in pure cultures of micro-... 

The respiratory rate of chlorophyllous tissue as measured by the loss of C02 from the tissue proceeds at a higher rate in the light than in the dark. This light-stimulated loss of carbon, termed photorespiration, is a process that is in addition to or superimposed on the normal dark respiratory process in the plant. A significant portion of the carbon that is fixed in many species actually moves through the photorespiration pathway. In C3 species such as Jerusalem artichoke, it is estimated that between 30 and 50% of the photosynthetically assimilated carbon in the leaves may be lost through the process of photorespiration. 

During the day, the rates of starch and sucrose synthesis and the rate of photosynthetic carbon assimilation must be coordinated. There is a clear need to determine how much assimilated carbon can be diverted into sucrose and starch synthesis without decreasing too much the amount that returns to the RPPP. Conversely, when sucrose accumulates in the cytosol because the rate of export diminishes (and/or photosynthesis increases), starch begins to accumulate inside the chloroplast. During the night, the... 

The dark reaction, known as the Calvin cycle, uses the reducing power of NADPH as well as the free energy stored in the ATP to assimilate carbon dioxide in the form of carbohydrates. The way by which Nature achieves carbon fixation is via the reaction of CO2 with ribulosebiphosphate (RuBP) to give two molecules of 3-phosphoglycerate, a process which is catalyzed by the enzyme RuBP-carboxylase. The phosphogylcerate is converted further to fructose 6-phosphate, the final product of the Calvin cycle. The overall reaction, despite its complex mechanism, corresponds to the simple Eq. (16) above. 

The utilization of carbon dioxide by ATP and NADPH occurs in the chloroplast matrix, (outside the thylakoid lumen). A series of reactions assimilates carbon dioxide (Fig. 2.6), the Calvin cycle or dark reaction, and generates fructose 6-phosphate. Fructose 6-phosphate is the immediate precursor of glucose 6-phosphate for the synthesis of starch in the... 

Assimilable carbon sources are arabinose, xylose, glucose, fructose, galactose, mannose, saccharose, dextrine, starch, mannite, fatty oils (such as olive oil) and the intermediate acids of glycolysis and of the tricarboxylic acid series, preferably glucose, fructose, and mannite. Lactose could not be utilized by any of the strains that were examined. 

A schematic overview of the relevant processes is shown in Figure 1. Plants and other autotrophs fix CO2. Animals and other heterotrophs utilize organic compounds. If the assimilated carbon is a small molecule (like CO2, CH4, or acetate), significant isotopic fractionation is likely to accompany the fixation or assimilation of C. Such fractionations establish the isotopic relationship between an organism and its carbon source. Those associated with photosynthesis encode information about chemical and physical conditions in the environment of fixation. Logically, therefore, they are treated here in the chapter dealing with the biogeochemistry of marine basins (Freeman, this volume). 

T t has been reported that fungal cellulases are induced enzymes and that cellulose preparations induce cellulolytic activity while easily assimilable carbon sources give the best fungal growth but less production of enzyme activity (9,12, 14). For example, Horton and Keen (10) found that 7.5 X 10"3M D-glucose repressed the synthesis of cellulase to a basal level in Pyrenochaeta terrestris and suggested that cellulase synthesis was regulated by an induction-repression mechanism. 

The release of such substances by phytoplankton would seem not to be an experimental artifact according to the data of Hellebust (1965), Nalewajko (1966), Samuel et al. (1971) and Thomas (1971), 1—20% of the total photo-assimilated carbon is released into the medium by natural phytoplankton populations. Although the importance of algal excretion can probably be... 

---