Higher Plant Respiration and Its Relationships to Photosynthesis

Respiration is the complement of photosynthesis in higher plants.1 The primary function of photosynthesis is to assimilate CO2 and radiant energy in the formation of carbohydrates. A significant portion of those carbohydrates become the main substrates of respiration (James 1953; Krotkov 1960; ap Rees 1980), but often after some period of storage or distance of transport. The function of respiration is to convert photoassimilate into substances usable by growth, maintenance, transport, and nutrient assimilation processes (Beevers 1961). Respiration does this by breaking down sugars into smaller molecules (carbon skeleton intermediates), phosphorylating ADP and other nucleosides, and reducing nucleotides — respiration does not only generate ATP. Some of the carbon skeleton intermediates become the precursors of growth and are diverted away from respiratory metabolism and used in biosynthetic reactions, whereas the ATP and NAD(P)H formed during respiration are used in all heterotrophic energy-requiring processes (Fig. 4.1).

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