Plastidial metabolite transporters integrate photorespiration with carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur metabolism

• Photorespiratory metabolism is distributed over four compartments in plant cells.
• Translocators enable the exchange of photorespiratory metabolites between compartments.
• Plastidial transporters integrate photorespiration with basic metabolism.

Plant photorespiration is an essential prerequisite for oxygenic photosynthesis. This metabolic repair pathway bestrides four compartments, which poses the requirement for several metabolites transporters for pathway function. However, in contrast to the well-studied enzymatic steps of the core photorespiratory cycle, only few photorespiratory translocators have been identified to date. In this review, we give an overview of established and unknown plastidic transport proteins involved in photorespiration and intertwined nitrogen and sulfur metabolism, respectively. Furthermore, we discuss the evolutionary origin of the dicarboxylate translocators and the recently identified glycolate glycerate translocator.

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