Quo vadis photorespiration: a tale of two aldolases.

An O2-consuming side reaction of d-ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase causes photorespiration in plants. This reaction may be an inevitable consequence of the enzyme's inability to protect its ene-diolate reaction intermediate from O2, a notion that is supported by the failure of persistent efforts to eliminate selectively its oxygenase activity by genetic manipulation. We have examined two aldolases with similar ene-diolate intermediates, l-rhamnulose 1-phosphate aldolase and l-fuculose 1-phosphate aldolase. The former enzyme has an oxygenase activity, while the latter does not, suggesting that the reaction with O2 is not inevitable.