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Rapid appearance of 13C in biogenic isoprene when 13 CO 2 is fed to intact leaves
Author(s) -
DELWICHE C. F.,
SHARKEY T. D.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
plant, cell and environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.646
H-Index - 200
eISSN - 1365-3040
pISSN - 0140-7791
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3040.1993.tb00907.x
Subject(s) - isoprene , chemistry , photosynthesis , labelling , carbon fibers , botany , organic chemistry , biology , biochemistry , materials science , composite number , composite material , copolymer , polymer
Biogenic isoprene substantially affects atmospheric chemistry, but it is not known how or why many plants, especially trees, make isoprene. We fed 13 CO 2 to leaves of Quercus rubra and monitored the incorporation of 13 C into isoprene by mass spectrometry. After feeding 13 CO 2 for 9 min we found all possible labelling patterns from completely unlabelled to fully labelled isoprene. By 18 min, 84% of the carbon atoms in isoprene were 13 C. Labelling of the last 20% of the carbon atoms was much slower than labelling of the first 80%. The rate of labelling of isoprene was similar to that reported for phosphoglyceric acid indicating that there is a close linkage between the carbon source for isoprene synthesis and the photosynthetic carbon reduction pathway.